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A 

HISTORY 

OP 

NEWGATE OF CONNECTICUT, 

AT 

SIMSBURY, NOW EAST GRANBY; 

ITS 

INSURRECTIONS AND MASSACRES, 

THE 

IMPRISONMENT OF THE TORIES IN THE REVOLUTION, 
AND THE WORKING OF ITS MINES. 

ALSO, 

SOME A C. COUNT 

OF THE 

STATE PRISON AT WETHERSFIELD. 

BY lilCHART) II. PHELrS. 



ALBANY, N. Y.: 
.1. MUNSELL, 7^ STATE STREET. 
1860. 



ALBANY, N. Y. : 

MUNSELL & ROWLAND, 

PRINTERS. 













INTRODUCTION. 




' HATEVER relates to the early history of a 
Locality or People, illustrating the manners, the 
civil, religious or criminal policy thereof, is un- 
doubtedly worthy of preservation. The records of 
deeds and events, apparently of slight moment at the 
time of their occurrence, increase in importance as ages 
roll avv^ay, and are the indices by w^hich we estimate the 
truth of history. It is therefore needless to dwell upon the 
necessity of recording events in their day, lest the memory 
of them be destroyed by the tooth of time, or they lapse 
into tales and traditions. 

There is an exciting fascination in the eventful history 
of XClUflntC of ^onnrctfCUt.to all who have been familiar 
with it, more especially to those who, like the writer, have 
resided in its vicinity and witnessed many of its scenes; 
and if we may judge by the numbers that travel far to 



iv Introduction, 

explore its caverns and the works which now cover its 
grounds, it will long continue to be an object of interest 
and examination. When the aged residents in its vicinity 
are gone, which must soon be, this prison fortress will 
doubtless remain. The traveler will inquire, Who built 
these towers ? Why these iron grates, these trenches and 
walls? How came these huge caverns to be dug out of 
solid rock, and why these rings and fetters bolted to their 
massive sides? Surely the echo of the caverns can not 
answer, nor the people who lived cotemporaneous with 
their use. Enough, then, by way of apology for these 
sketches. 

The materials here presented, have been gathered from 
a variety of sources. Besides what came within the 
knowledge of the writer, he has availed himself of the 
statistics afforded by the ancient colonial and state records ; 
of the facts recorded in the History of Simsbury, by N. A. 
Phelps, Esq.; of the verbal statements kindly furnished 
by aged persons still living; and a multitude of facts, 
preserved from the recorded relations of witnesses long 
since passed away; all of which may be relied upon for 
entire accuracy. 

Windsor, Ct., 1860. 




NEWGATE OF CONNECTICUT. 




HIS is tli^ name by which the 
prison was known in the time of 
the American Revolution, and it 
was so called after Newgate pri- 
son in England. It is well known 
that our forefathers, in giving 
names to their towns and rivers, and other objects 
of nature and art, by which they became surround- 
ed, drew freely upon those which they had been 
accustomed to in their ancestral homes ; thus they 
endeavored to make their adopted country, in 
names at least, to assimilate to their native land. 
So. in denominating this receptacle for their crimi- 
nals after the world-renowned prison of London, 
they intended to endow it with all the terror which 
attached to that fearful abode of the depraved. 



6 Newgate of ConnecticuL 

The mines and prison buildings occupy an emi- 
nence on the western declivity of the greenstone 
mountain, which rises to an elevation higher than 
at any other place in the state, and is here sar- 
mounted by lofty, precipitous and craggy rocks. 
This range of mountains extends through the 
whole length of the state, and terminates at the 
East Rock near New Haven. Towards the west 
and south, can be seen in the distance, bold and 
irregular outlines of mountains, interspersed with 
extensive valleys, formipg a scene of impressive 
grandeur and sublimity, seldom surpassed. Says a 
writer : 

" The appearance of this place forcibly reminds 
" the observer of the walls, castles, and towers, 
" erected for the security of some haughty lordling 
'* of the feudal ages; while the gloomy dungeons 
" within its walls, call to remembrance a Bastile, 
"or a prison of the Inquisition." 

The mines were formerly included in the limits 
of the town of Simsbury, and so remained until 
1786, when a part of the town, including mines 
and prisons, was set off and incorporated under 
the name of Granby ; hence the place was at that 
time known by the name of Simsbury Copper Mi?ies, 
on Copper hill. 



Newgate of Connecticut. 7 

The town of Granby was subdivided in 1858, 
and the mines are at present included in the town 
of East Granby. If the state of Connecticut con- 
tinues henceforth to increase her legislative ratio 
of representation by subdividing her towns, it will 
become difficult to trace the topography of some 
places within her borders, nor can it well be fore- 
seen what town will have the honor of containing 
Simsbury mines at the next subdivision. 

Mining. 

The period at which copper ore was first dis- 
covered at this place is not definitely known. The 
first company for working the mines, is supposed 
to have been composed of land proprietors of Sims- 
bury, in 1707. The association agreed to pay the 
town ten shillings on each ton of copper produced, 
of which two-thirds was appropriated for the sup- 
port "of an able schoolmaster in Simsbury," and 
the other third to the collegiate school, Yale col- 
lege ; the residue of profits was to be divided 
among the partners pro-rata, according to the 
amount of their respective subscription shares. 

All the land on Copper hill, and in that region, 
was covered with the primeval forest, and occupied 
only as hunting ground by roving bands of Indians ; 



8 Newgate of Connecticut. 

and as the land was unsold, and under the con- 
trol of the original proprietors of the town, the 
association comprised chiefly all the inhabitants. 
The company concluded only to dig the ore, and 
the first year they made a contract with three 
clergymen, for smelting the same, viz: Johri fVood- 
bridge of Springfield, Dudley Woodbridge of Sims- 
bury, and Timothy Woodbridge, Jr., of Hartford. 

Clergymen at that early period were regarded as 
the principal embodiments of science as well as 
theology, and as many of them received their 
education in England, these contractors were sup- 
posed to possess the best facilities for obtaining 
information from foreign sources, in regard to the 
difficult process of smelting and refining. The 
theologians, however, did not understand the busi- 
ness, or at least failed to prosecute it to advantage ; 
for in four years from their commencement, the 
proprietors appointed a committee to call them to 
account, and, if necessary, to sue them for the ore 
*' that had been brought to them at divers times." 
The mines had at that time attained a good degree 
of celebrity, as appears by a public act passed by 
the colony. 



Neivgate of Connecticut. 9 

•' Anno Regni Ann^e Reginaj 

V. Septimo A. D. 1709." 

An Act relating to the Copper Mines at Simshury. 

" Whereas there hath lately been discovered a 
" Copper mine at Symsbnry, which hath been so 
" improved as to give good satisfaction to conclude 
" that a public benefit might arise therefrom ; Now 
*' for the better encouraging, directing, and ena- 
" bling the proprietors and undertakers, or others 
" that are or may be concerned therein, their heirs 
*' and assigns, to manage, carry on, and improve 
" said mines to the best advantage," &c. 

The act authorized the appointment of three 
commissioners, who were to settle all controver- 
sies, and who were authorized to summon a jury 
in disputes exceeding a certain amount. The 
sessions of this court were held generally at or near 
the mines, and great numbers of business and liti- 
gated cases, were adjusted in a summary and 
economical way, for the space of more than sixty 
years. During that whole period, the company of 
proprietors worked the mines, either themselves, 
or by leasing to other parties, who agreed to pay 
the company a per centage of the ore or metal pro- 
duced. In their leases it was expressly stipulated, 
that one-fifth of all metals, &c., should go to the 
2 



10 Newgate of Connecticut. 

crown ; thus, acknowledging themselves most loyal 
subjects of taxation and revenue to the crown of 
England. 

It is, not ascertained what per cent of profits 
was made on the investment in these mines, over 
and above the expenses of working them, but it is 
natural to suppose that if they were very profita- 
ble to the operators, all the applause usually at- 
tendant upon good luck, would not have remained 
forever hidden in oblivion from the world. Still 
the illusive charms of mining, had so much of 
novelty and hope for adventurers in the New 
Avorld, that new companies were formed success- 
ively at various periods. 

Some of the companies were composed of per- 
sons of great wealth and respectability. One com- 
pany was formed in London, one in Holland, others 
in Boston, New York, and elsewhere. In 1714, 
the records show that the use of the mines was 
purchased by Jonathan Belcher of Boston, (after- 
wards governor), Timothy Woodbridge, Jr., and Wm. 
Partrige ; and in 1721 they had miners from Ger- 
many employed, and were expending seventy 
pounds a month in the work. It appears that this 
Boston company operated the mines for a period 
of at least twenty-three years, and in a letter from 
Governor Belcher, dated 1735, he states that he had 



Neivgate of Connecticut. 11 

disbursed upwards of 15,000 pounds, or about 
75,000 dollars. 

The excitement in the Colonies upon the busi- 
ness of mining, about that period, was very great, 
as it would seem from the following petition, copied 
from the records: 

" To the Honnell, the Gov't Councill and Rep- 
^' resentatives in general Court assembled in New 
"Haven, Oct, i6th A. D. 1733. 

" The Prayer of Joseph Whiting, of New Haven, 
" Humbly Sheweth ; That your Suppliant has Ex- 
" pended a considerable time & money in Search- 
" ing after Mines, & has made farther Discoveries 
" perhaps than any other man in this Colony has 
" before done, and having met with such incourge- 
" ment as that I am willing to be at farther Expense 
"in the Same Search — but ready money being so 
*' absolutely necessary therein; I therefore Humbly 
"pray this assembly will be pleased to lease me 
"one thousand pounds of the money Granted last 
" may to be struck, & now to be disposed of by 
" this assembly — upon double security in Lands & 
" Bonds, for the payment of the interest every year; 
" the principall to be Returned at the Expiration 
" often years," &c. 

Joseph Whiting y 



12 Newgate of Connecticut. 

A great deal of time and money without doubt 
was expended as the aforesaid petitioner says "m 
searching after mines,'' for the evidence may be seen 
in the numerous pits and shafts which have been 
dug along the whole range of this mountain to 
New Haven. At that day, as in all previous time 
since the world began, and as is seen especially at 
the present day, the chief aim of many appeared to 
be to make fortunes by head-work — by speculation, 
and choosing rather to spend their time and risk 
their money in mining, and other uncertain pro- 
jects, than to dig upon the surface of good old mother 
earth, for a sure and honest living. 

Upon the summit of the hill where the greatest 
excavations were made, and the largest quantity of 
ore taken, two perpendicular shafts were dug 
principally through solid rock, for the purpose of 
raising the ore. One of them is nearly eighty feet 
deep, and the other thirty five. At the bottom of 
these shafts we find the caverns, so termed, extend- 
ing in various directions, several hundred feet. 

By estimating the once solid contents of these 
subterraneous vaults, an idea can be formed of the 
great quantity of ore which has been taken out. 
The percolation of water through the crevices of 
rock, made it necessary to dig drains or levels, to 



Newgate of Connecticut 13 

convey it off; but these either became obstructed, 
or the mines were sunk below them, which allowed 
the accumulation of water, and it became neces- 
sary to pump it out. The pumps were kept in 
motion day and night, and laborers in the vicinity, 
and farmers in the town of Windsor, were employed 
to work them during the night, and return to their 
homes in the morning. The copper ore has some- 
what the appearance of yellowish grey sand stone, 
intermixed with nodules of bluish sulphuret, and 
yellow pyrites, and is very hard and brittle. 

The vein is considered as rich, yielding three to 
five per cent of pure copper, and some large masses 
have been obtained yielding over fifty per cent. 
The ore is of a character termed refractory, and 
the metal does not readily separate from the stone 
when pulverised and washed, in consequence of 
the specific gravity of the stony particles. 

The mines would doubtless have been profitable 
to the operators at the price at which copper metal 
was at that time valued, had not the enterprise 
been shackled with various incumbrances. A 
principal one was, the laws of the mother country 
prohibiting the smelting of it here. The rigid 
laws of Britain imposed penalties upon any who 
should attempt to compete with her furnaces and 



14 Newgate of Connecticut. 

artizans at home, consequently the vast expense of 
shipping it across the Atlantic, crippled the success 
of all parties engaged in the business. Notwith- 
standing the enormous expense, several cargoes 
were sent to Europe. A large quantity was de- 
posited about one mile east of the mountain, upon 
a spot now marked by an entire dearth of vegeta- 
tion, owing to the poisonous qualities extracted 
from the ore. From thence it was carried fourteen 
miles to Hartford, where it was shipped to New 
York, and from thence to England. The owners 
were still further disheartened by the loss of two 
vessels with their cargoes of ore. ' One was seized 
and confiscated as a prize by the French, being 
then at war with England ; the other was sunk in 
the English channel by shipwreck. 

In defiance of British restrictions, considerable 
ore was smelted by the companies. Buildings and 
furnaces for pounding, smelting, and refining, 
were erected in Simsbury upon a stream of water 
a few miles distant, but safety required caution 
and secrecy in the works, which were finally 
abandoned. The place where the smelting was 
carried on, was named by the German workmen, 
Hanover, from their native place in Germany, which 
name it still retains. 



Newgate of Connecticut. 15 

Granby Coppers. 

Coin was made from this ore in 1737 and 1739, 
by a Mr. Higley, and was in current circulation 
for many years. In describing these coins, a writer 
says : " They were stamped upon planchets of the 
purest copper, and, in consequence, were in demand 
by goldsmiths for alloy." The trade of a black- 
smith, ever since Vulcan was engaged in forging 
thunderbolts, has given to the world some very 
remarkable men, and it affords us great pleasure 
at this time to be able to contribute to the fame of 
one of the craft, who not only devised, but manu- 
factured a currency. We have seen it stated that 
Mr. Higley, the author of these coppers, was an 
ingenious blacksmith who resided in the town of 
Granby; hence the name Grrt7i6j/ Co;;/;er5 ; and that 
with all the notions of utility which he naturally 
derived from the anvil, he was ambitious of making 
a little reputation for himself besides. He has 
certainly left evidence of having been an artist as 
well as a financier, for the creations of his genius 
and skill were for the times well executed, and 
they also became a currency. Subsequently, we 
are informed, his cupidity led him into the hazard- 
ous experiment of illegally imitating the issues of 



16 



Newgate of ConnecticuL 



other coiners, which, being discovered, deprived 
him of a portion of the laurels that had previously 
encircled his brow. These coppers bear the sym- 
bols of their origin, with a due regard to royalty on 
some of them — the sledge-hammers being sur- 
mounted by crowns, a something very apparent to 
the minds of the colonists, but which did not 
always command their sincere reverence. These 
coins grace but few cabinets, having been generally 
so impaired by wear, from being stamped upon 
unalloyed copper, as to be rarely found sufficiently 
perfect. We were, however, lately gratified by 
finding in New York city an electrotype which was 
perfect. Single specimens of this coin now com- 
mand from $15 to $25 each. There appears to 
have been five different issues of them, of several 
devices; upon one is the figure of a broad axe, 
with the motto : " / cut my way through ! " 




Obveree. 




Reverse. 



The engraving represents both sides of aGranby 



Newgate of Connecticut. 17 

copper, now in the Connecticut Historical Society, 
at Hartford. 

No public laws had been made by the colonists 
to authorize coinage of money, or to specify its 
value. Specie was very scarce in this country, and 
the coinage at this embryo mint, was regarded 
with great favor by residents in the vicinity. The 
foreign trade of the country, which was chiefly 
confined to England, was principally controlled by 
her; the balance of trade was continually against 
us, which prevented the importation of specie. 
The war with France, in 1745, turned the tide 
somewhat in our favor, and considerable quantities 
were circulated by England in payment of war 
expenses. 

The first issue of paper money was made by the 
Colonists in 1709, being the same year in which a 
public act was passed relating to the Simsbury 
mines. Previous to that time Provision pay was 
the common medium of exchange, consisting of 
the common eatables and other products of the 
country. The appraised value of such commodi- 
ties at that time, may be shown by the following 
extract from the records of the town of Simsbury, 
stipulating the pay of their clergyman in 1688. 
They agreed to pay him fifty pounds per annum 

3 



18 Newgate of Connecticut. 

" in good current pay, to wit ; one third in good 
" merchantable wheat at four shillings per bushel, 
" one third in pease or rye, at three shillings per 
" bushel, and one third in Indian corn or pork ; the 
"corn at two shillings and six pence per bushel, 
" and the pork at three pounds ten shillings per bar- 
"rel," besides other items of fuel, &c. At an ordi- 
nation nine years later, among the articles furnish- 
ed on the occasion were the following, with their 
prices; Half a lamb of mutton, 2s. 6d. ; butter 6d. 
per pound ; four pounds of sugar, 2s. 6d. ; half a 
bushel Indian meal, Is. 3d. ; two fowls, 8d. ; eighty- 
four pounds of beef, los. ; thirty pounds venison, 
3s. 9d. ; nineteen pounds of pork, 4s. 9d. ; nine 
pounds of mutton, 2s. ; two gills of rum, 9d. Valued 
by our currency at this day the price of beef was 
three cents a pound ; mutton three and a halj cents, 
and venison two cents. In some instances it was 
stipulated that those who paid their rates in specie, 
should be allowed a discount of one third from the 
amount. Contracts between individuals unless 
specially stipulated to be paid in coin, were pay- 
able in the commodities of the neighborhood, and 
at prices established by the" General court. Taxes 
laid for military defence against the roving tribes 
of Indians, for building churches, and for ordinary 



Newgate of ComiecticuL 19 

public expenses, were also payable in produce. 
During a period of one hundred and forty eight 
years from the settlement of the colony to the 
peace of 1783, excepting the period of the French 
wars, the traffic among the people was carried on 
in part by barter and exchange. In 1709 it was 
enacted by the Colony, that in order to assist in 
the expedition against the French in Canada, 
" there be forthwith imprinted a certain number of 
"Bills of Credit, on the Colony, in suitable sums 
" from two shillings to five pounds, which in the 
'' whole shall amount to 8,000 pounds, and no 
" more," 

It was enacted that the bills should be received 
for dues and taxes, at one shilling on the pound 
better than money. Taxes were imposed providing 
for the redemption of the whole amount within 
two years. The promptness with which the Colony 
met their own bills, is noticeable when contrasted 
with the unavailing efibrts of the Continental Con- 
gress, to sustain the value of their paper money, 
which was issued in the Revolution.* 

* To illustrate tlic ruinous He says : "In 1781 intlic months 

depreciation of the Continental "of Feb'y or Marcli, I drove a 

currency, I quote an extract " team to Boston with a load, 

from a letter written by Ileze- " and brought one back for a 

Jciah Munsell oi East Windsor. " merchant in SpringGeld, Mass. 



20 Newgate of Connecticut. 

Slavery. 

The customs of the colony for many years toler- 
ated African slavery, and slaves were employed to 
some extent in laboring at the mines. It is very 
likely they may have been imported for that pur- 
pose by some of the foreign companies who leased 
the mines ; this opinion is justified by the fact 
that slaves were imported into the American colo- 
nies at various periods by English traders, as the 
slave trade was not prohibited in England until 
1807. The area of slavery in Connecticut must 
have been of considerable extent, for the territory 
granted by the Plymouth Company of England in 
1630, comprised the whole country from the Atlan- 
tic ocean to the South sea, or Pacific, and of the pre- 
sent width of the state from north to south. The 
first record of slavery in Connecticut, was in an 
inventory of the property of Henry Wolcott of 
Windsor in 1680, though it may have been brought 
into the town by the first settlers in 1633. 

In 1660, by a decree of the General court, 



"I had a five cattle team. Re- "was two silver dollars, and 

" turning home I stayed in Rox- " continental money had so de- 

" bury one night ; my team was " preciated that I paid it in the 

"fed, I had one meal and lodg- "round sum of $140 for that 

" ing ; my bill ia the morning " single night's entertainment." 



Newgate of Connecticut. 21 

" neither Indian nor negar servants shall be required 
*' to train, watch, or ward." Indian enemies cap- 
tured in war, or convicted of crimes, were sold and 
held in bondage as slaves. 

The thought will readily occur to the mind, that 
our respected ancestors occupied rather a contra- 
riety of position in this particular, as they had fled 
from oppression in the old world, and felt them- 
selves justified in enslaving the aborigines of the 
new. 

The record of burials in South Windsor gives the 
deaths of twenty-one negro slaves between 1736, 
and 1768. In 1784 the Legislature enacted that 
no negro child born after the first day of March in 
that year, should be held in bondage after arriving 
at the age of twenty-five. 1784 an act was passed 
that children born of slave mothers after August in 
that year, should be free at the age of twenty one ; 
but it does not appear that slavery was totally 
abolished by a formal act until 1848. 

The following anecdote, copied from the History 
of Ancient Windsor, by Dr. Stiles, illustrates some 
of the difficulties encountered by our people in the 
liberation of their slaves, and also by our Southern 
brethren, where, in all their state laws they are 
obligated to provide for the support of those who 
are infirm and unable to labor : 



22 Newgate of Connecticut. 

*'An aged and faithful Windsor slave working 
"in the field with his master, was observed to be 
"very moody and silent. At length he broke the 
"silence by saying, that such a neighbor had given 
"his slave his freedom, and modestly suggested 
" that Massa ort to give me freedom. The master 
" quietly replied, Well, Tom, you may have your 
" freedom. May I, Massa — when ? . Now, was the 
" reply. What, now, Massa, right away ! ex- 
" claimed the surprised slave. Yes, Tom, you 
"may stick up your fork where you are, if you 
"choose and be free. Tom stood looking upon 
" the ground more moodily than ever, while his 
" master went on with his work. After half an 
"hour's consideration, Tom resumed his labor, 
"remarking, with a knowing look. No, Massa, you 
"have de meat, now you may pick de bone. I no 
" go and take care old Tom myself." 



Newgate of Connecticut. 23 

, Recent Mining. 

The work at the Simsbury mines was carried 
on at various periods until 1773, more than seventy 
years, through wars and rumors of wars, and by a 
variety of forces ; by free labor, and by slave labor ; 
by private enterprise, and by chartered compa- 
nies ; and, subsequently, by prison labor. Vast 

sums had been expended in the business, and then 
they were abandoned for the space of about half a 

century, for prison occupation. 

In 1830, to the surprise of all, another resurrec- 
tion of mineralogists was announced at the old 
prison mines. A company of gentlemen from New 
York, with Richard Bacon of Simsbury, formed the 
Phenix Mining Company, obtained a charter, and 
purchased of the state the whole prison property, 
including the mines, and about five acres of land, 
for the sum of $1,200. They expended many 
thousand dollars in digging extensive levels, build- 
ing furnaces, and constructing engines and ma- 
chinery, to facilitate their operations in raising, 
pounding, and smelting the ore. They carried on 
the business for some time, but owing to a reverse 
in financial affairs of the country and other causes, 
they were again abandoned. 



24 Newgate of Connecticut. 

The old mines were suffered to repose again in 
quiet for about twenty years, when the note of 
preparation for working was once more heard. A 
new company was formed in 1855, called the 
Coaneciicui Copper Company, which prosecuted the 
business for about two years. They found the 
average yield of metal about 5 per cent, and large 
masses of ore were taken out which produced over 
50 per cent of copper. The deeper the descent, 
the richer appeared to be the quality of the ore. 
The chief obstacle to success appears to be, not for 
the lack of a fair per centage of metal, but in ex- 
tracting it by the ordinary process of separating 
and fluxing; and for that purpose the company 
erected ten of Bradford's separators, at a great ex- 
pense, and also two steam engines for grinding, 
and for working the separating machines. The 
business has been suspended for the present, but 
it is believed that the aids of science, improved 
machinery, and sufficient capital, will yet result 
profitably, and that Copper hill may at no distant 
day, share some of the fame of the mines of lake 
Superior. 



Newgate of Connecticut 25 



Imprisonment of the Tories. 

Can then the verdure of these blissful plains 
Conceal the Caves where penal Rigor reigns I 
Where the starved wret.ch, by suffering folly led 
To snatch the feast where pampered plenty fed; 
Shut from tlie sunny breeze and healthful skies, 
On the cold, dripping stone, low, withering, lies; 
Torn from the clime that gave his visions birth, 
A palsied member of the vital earth 1 
If the sweet Muse, with Nature's best control. 
Can melt to sympathy the reasoning soul, 
She bids thee rend those grating bars away, 
And o'er the dungeon break the beam of day: 
Give the frail felon with laborious toil. 
To pay the penance of his wasted spoil. 
Hear his deep groan, heed his repentant prayer, 
And snatch his frenzied spirit from despair; 
Nor let these fields, arrayed in heavenly bloom, 
Blush o'er the horrors of a living tomb!* 

These caverns were first occupied as a place for 
the confinement of Tories about the beginning of 
the American Revolution. What an astonishing 
train of events followed, and how distant from the 
thoughts of the British company of miners, the 

* Extract from a poem writ- ty and formidable character 

ten by a ^ady of Boston, in which Newgate had obtained, 

1797, after visiting the prison, in tlie opinion of the beuevo- 

It indicates the great notorie- lent and gifted poetess. 
4 



26 Newgate of Co7inecticut. 

idea that they were actually hewing out prison 
cells, for the lodgment of their friends, the Tories 
of America ! 

The Colony of Connecticut first used the caverns 
as a permanent prison in 1773. A committee had , 
been appointed by the General assembly to ex- 
plore the place, who reported that by expending 
about thirty-seven pounds, the mines could be so 
perfectly secured, that " it would be next to im- 
" possible for any person to escape." Whether their 
opinions were well founded, subsequent events 
determined. The total expense of purchasing the 
property, with the remaining lease of the mines, 
and fortifying the place, amounted to $375. 

An act was passed prescribing the terms of im- 
prisonment. Burglary, robbery, and counterfeit- 
ing were punished for the first oflTense with im- 
, prisonment not exceeding ten years; second offense 
for life. The keeper of the prison was authorized 
to punish the convicts for offenses, by *' moderate 
"whipping, not exceeding ten stripes, and by put- 
'' ting shackles and fetters upon them ;" and it was 
intended to employ them at labor in the mines, 
which they did, to a considerable extent. 

At first the number of Tories confined in the 
caverns did not exceed five or six, and these were 



Newgate of Connecticut. 27 

guilty of other crimes against the government. 
But as time developed events, the numbers in- 
creased to between thirty and forty. 

When the 342 chests of tea wexQ thrown into 
the sea at Boston in 1773, and that port closed by 
an act of Parliament, so great was the excitement, 
and so indignant were the people, particularly in 
Massachusetts and Connecticut, on account of 
British oppression, that the use of tea and all com- 
modities imported in British vessels and subject 
to duty, w^ere prohibited. The duty on tea was 
so particularly obnoxious, that it was considered 
a contraband article in household comforts ; true, 
the contrast in the times may appear rather curi- 
ous, for at this day, a housekeeper would be judged 
by common consent deserving incarceration in 
the mines, or some other place, for not allowing 
the article to be used. 

Our ancestors knew no half-way policy, and 
seldom adopted dilatory measures to carry their 
points. Tea vessels, if then kept at all, were kept 
out of sight; tea pots were run into musket balls, 
and they were the kind of currency with which 
the people dealt with old England. 



28 Newgate of Connecticut 

The following incident from Dr. Stiles* s History of 
Ancient Windsor, shows the marked spirit of the 
times: 

" At an early period in the Revolutionary strug- 
" gle, and before the war had fairly commenced, 
" some of the Tories (of whom there were a few in 
** Windsor) happened one day to come across Elihu 
" Drake, then a lad about eight years old, and partly 
"in earnest, and partly in a joke, endeavored to 
" compel him to say, God save the King. Failing 
" of success, they tried to intimidate him by threat- 
" ening him with a ducking in the river. But the 
"boy still stoutly refused. Becoming somewhat 
" enraged at the young rebel, they carried their 
" threat into execution, and thrust him under water, 
" but as they pulled him out spluttering and chok- 
"ing, the only exclamation which he uttered was 
" a fervent God d — n the King. Again, and again 
" was the little martyr thrust under, but each time 
" the same reply was all they could extort from 
" him, and they were obliged to release him with 
" many hearty curses for his stubbornness. At 
" the age of twelve, this young hero accompa- 
" nied his father into the war, in the capacity of 
" waiter." 



Newgate of Connecticut. 29 

The following appeared in the Connecticut Jour- 
nal, in 1775, and further illustrates the same spirit ; 

" The Riflemen on their way from the Southern 
"colonies through the country, administer the new 
" fashioned discipline of tar and feathers to the 
" obstinate and refractory Tories that they met on 
" their road, which has had a very good effect here 
" (in New Milford). Those whose crimes are of a 
"more atrocious nature, they punish by sending 
"them to Gen. Gage. They took a man in this 
" town, a most incorrigible Tory, who called them 
" d — d Rebels, &c., and made him walk before them 
"to Litchfield, which is 20 miles, and carry one of 
"his own geese all the way in his hand; when 
"they arrived there, they tarred him, and made 
"him pluck his goose, and then bestowed the 
" feathers on him, drummed him out of the com- 
"pany, and obliged him to kneel down and thank 
" them for their lenity." 

Public opinion in some of the colonics against 
those who favored the mother country was very 
rigid, authorizing any person even to shoot them 
if they were found beyond the limits of their own 
premises, and one was shot in the town of Sims- 
bury. Those who possessed not the hardihood 



30 



Newgate of Connecticut 



thus summarily to dispatch a neighbor when he 
declined to light for the country, or for purchasing 
foreign goods, adopted the more humane expedient 
of applying to the Committee of Safety * in the 
town, who penned them up in the caverns where 
they could at least leisurely examine the evidence 
of British labor, though not allowed the blessed 



* In some towns they were 
termed Committee of Inspec- 
tion. They constituted what 
we should call a committee 
of Vigilance, and their duties 
were of a very peculiar and 
delicate nature — " a patriotic 
" and searching espionage into 
" the principles, actions and 
" private affairs of every mem- 
" ber of the community, with- 
" out regard to station, profes- 
" siou or character. It was 
" necessary to know how each 
" man stood affected towards 
" the war — whether his feelings 
" were enlisted in his country's 
" behalf, or whether secretly or 
" publicly he was aiding the 
"enemy." If any individual fell 
under suspicion of the people, the 
committee were immediately 
notified, and they forthwith 



repaired to the person and de- 
manded an avowal of his senti- 
ments. If found to be luke- 
warm or indifferent to the liberal 
cause, he was closely watched. 
If a Tory in sentiment, he was 
remanded to Newgate. Th6 
dividing line of principle was 
positive and distinct. On the 
royal side, the British officials 
proclaimed those to be outlaws 
who favored the cause of the 
rebels, and pronounced free par- 
don to such as ceased their re- 
sistance, or espoused the cause 
of Royalty. Besides this it is 
said they gave secret protection 
papers to those applying for 
them on the score of friendship. 
These acts of the British im- 
pelled the colonists to take the 
most rigorous measures in self 
defense. 



Newgate of Connecticut. 31 

• 

boon of being governed by British laws. We can 
not for a moment doubt the noble intentions of the 
American patriots in the severity of those measures, 
for the results are now universally acknowledged, 
and generally appreciated. If at the commence- 
ment of their struggle for liberty, they had permit- 
ted those emissaries to raise a question as to the 
right of independent government, and had suffered 
them to prowl about unmolested, spreading the 
fuel of disaffection, a civil, instead of a national war 
must have followed. The proud eagle of Liberty 
would not so soon have risen over this land of 
plenty, and the reveille of British soldiery would 
have told misfortune's tale, of a government of 
force. Well would it be for us their descendants 
if like them we could appreciate the blessings of 
liberty, of our happy form of government, and 
the value of mutual peace and union of this great 
confederacy of Sovereign States ! 

At this day, it seems to us hardly possible that 
any considerable number could have been found, 
so indifferent to the possession of liberty, as to op- 
pose their countrymen in arms, struggling for free- 
dom, and the inalienable rights of man. We are 
prone to regard them as inhuman, deluded beings, 
unworthy to live. But let us pause a moment, 



32 ' Newgate of Connecticut. 

yield a little to our charity, to consider the state oi 
the country at that time, and some of the influences 
by which they were surrounded. The Tories were 
aware that in the history of the world, every people 
who had attempted the experiment of a free repre- 
sentative form of government, although in some 
cases for a while successful, yet in the end they 
had positively failed in their hopes and plans, their 
struggles had only ended in loss of power by the 
many, and usurpation of it by the few. From the 
history of the Republics of Greece in early Europe, 
through the long vista of twenty-four centuries, the 
plebeian people had striven through toil and blood, 
only to bend their necks at last to the yoke of some 
powerful chieftain in war. They and their ances- 
tors had suffered and bled in the Indian wars, 
afterwards in wars with the French, and with 
French and Indians combined, and their mother 
England had been an ally who had assisted them 
in their defence, and to whom they still looked for 
aid in emergency. Many also, were bound by the 
ties of near kindred to friends across the ocean. 
Those in civil power received their authority 
direct from England, and many of the clergy were 
commissioned by the church of England, by which 
also they received their chief support. All of them. 



Newgate of Connecticut. 38 

doubtless, were biassed by early education and 
prejudice, to prefer a kingly to a free government, 
and they dreaded the troublesome responsibility of 
beginning the contest for a change, well knowing 
that an ignominious death awaited them in case 
their experiment failed. In the words of our 
Declaration of Independence, "all experience hath 
" shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, 
*' while evils are suflerable, than to right them- 
" selves by abolishing the forms to which they are 
"accustomed." On the other hand, they are 
blameable for opposing independence, because the 
oppression of British tyranny had planted them or 
their fathers upon the inhospitable shores of a new 
world ; they had generously expended their blood 
and treasure for the maintenance of the crown, 
and had obeyed its mandates by assisting in the 
war against France, which resulted in the acquisi- 
tion of a vast territory to the English nation. Their 
trade had been monopolized by her; then, when 
prudence would have dictated a relaxation of 
authority, the mother country rose in her demands, 
and imposed heavy taxes to pay oft' a national 
debt of more than $750,000,000. The idea should 
have been discarded, that a small island, more 
than two thousand miles distant, should hold in 

5 



34 Neivgate of Connecticut. 

bondage, without representation, a territory on this 
continent, large as the whole of Europe, and des- 
tined to equal it in population. They should have 
remembered too, that citizens of the early Repub- 
lics, possessed not our advantage of historical ex- 
perience of other Republics, to delineate the faults 
of free government, by which they could avoid their 
errors, and adopt their benefits; and no well defined 
system of confederated states, with a constitution 
limiting the just powers of government, had ever 
been devised. The masses in early ages were 
ignorant, superstitious, and heathenish ; they were 
crammed into dense cities and villages, which are 
the hotbeds of vice and corruption; while on the con- 
trary, the inhabitants of America could glean wis^ 
dom from the history of past ages, and commune 
with the great and mighty dead. They possessed 
abundance of territory for all ; plenty of room in 
which to develop their free energies, and afford to 
all uneasy spirits a medium in which to expend 
their surplus gas, in the moral atmosphere of a 
continent. They could realize the sentiment: 

" No pent up Utica contracts our powers, 
" For the whole bouudless Continent is ours." 

They also were the disciples of a divine religion, 



. Neivgate of Connecliciit. 35 

which tends to harmonize the heart, and elevate 
the moral character of man. 

The first keeper of Newgate was Capt. John Viets, 
who resided near by, and who supplied them daily 
with such food and necessaries as were required. 
His bill, as recorded for one year, in 1774, is as 
follows : 

" Captain John Fieis, Master, as per his bill for 
" services, boarding workmen and providing for 
"prisoners, &c., 291. 5s. lOd." 

At that time no guard was kept through the day, 
but two or three sentinels kept watch during the 
night. There was an anteroom or passage, through 
which to pass before reaching their cell, and the 
usual practice of Capt. Viets, when he carried their 
food, was, to look through the grates intothis pass- 
age, to observe whether they were near the door, 
and if not, then to enter, lock the door after him, 
and pass on to the next. The inmates soon learned 
his custom, and accordingly prepared themselves 
for an escape. When the Captain came next time, 
some of them had contrived to unbar their cell 
door, and huddled themselves in a corner behind 
the door in the passage, where they coukl not 
easily be seen, and upon his opening it, they sprung 



36 Neivgate of Connecticut 

upon him, knocked him down, pulled him in, and 
taking the key from his possession, they locked 
him up and made good their escape. What were 
the Captain's reflections on his sudden transition 
from keeper to that of prisoner is not stated, but he 
probably thought, with FalstafF, " discretion the 
"better part of valor," and that he must adopt, in 
future, more prudent measures. His absence was 
soon perceived by his family, who came to his 
relief The inhabitants around rallied immedi- 
ately, and gave chase to the absconding heroes, 
and finally succeeded in capturing nearly the 
whole of ihem. Several were taken in attempting 
to cross the Tunxis, or Farmington river, at Scot- 
land bridge, a few miles south ; sentinels having 
been stationed at that place to intercept them. 
Some, Santa Ana like, took refuge upon trees, and 
there met with certain capture. A respected ma- 
tron, then a child, states, that the news of their 
escape and capture spread as much dread or terror 
among the children in the neighborhood as if they 
had been a band of midnight assassins. Although 
the prison was considered impregnable, the first 
convict which had been put there, John Hinson, had 
escaped. He was committed Dec. 2, 1773, and 
escaped after a confinement of eighteen days, by 



Newgate of Connecticut. 37 

being drawn up through the mining shaft, assisted, 
it is said, by a woman to whom he was paying his 
addresses. 

After the general escape and recapture, the fol- 
lowing report was made by the overseers : 

To the Honourable General Assembly noiv sitting at 
Hartford : 

We, the subscribers, overseers of Newgate Pri- 
son, would inform your Honors, that Newgate Pri- 
son is so strong and secure that we believe it is 
not posable for any person put there to escape, 
unless by assistance from abroad ; yet it so happens 
that one John Hinson, lately sent there by order of 
the Honourable the Superior court, has escaped 
by the help of some evil minded person at present 
unknown, who, in the night season next after the' 
9th inst., drew the prisoner out of the shaft ; and 
we believe no place ever was or can be made so 
secure, but that if persons abroad can have free 
access to such Prison, standing at a distance from 
any dwelling house, the prisoners will escape ; we 
therefore Recommend it to your Honors, that some 
further security be added to that prison in order to 
secure the prisoners : AVhat that security shall be, 
will be left to your Honors ; yet we would observe to 
your Honors that the east shaft where the prisoner 



38 Newgate of Connecticut. 

escaped, is about 70 feet to the bottom of the pri- 
son, tlie whole of which is through a firm rock 
except 10 feet at top, which is stoned up like a 
well ; we therefore propoes that the upper part 
down to the rock be lock'd up, and stones about 
15 or 18 inches square and of suitable length, be 
laid across said shaft about eight inches asunder, 
&c. And as to the west shaft, which is about 25 
feet deep, secured with a strong iron gate, about 
six feet below the surface, we propoes that a strong 
log house be built of two or three rooms, one of 
which, to stand over this shaft to secure it from 
persons abroad, and the other rooms to be for the 
Miners, &c. All which is submitted by your Hon- 
or's Most obedient Humble Servants. 

Erastus Wolcott, 
Josiah Bissell, 
Joli'71 Humphrey. 
Hartford Jan'y 17th, J 774. 

Connecticut at that period held each year two 
sessions of her Assembly, and at the next session, 
four months after, the following report was pre- 
sented by the overseers : 



Neu'gate of Connecticut. 39 

To the Hon. the Gen'I Assembly now sitting at Hartford : 

We the subscribers hereto, overseers of Newgtite 
Prison, beg leave to represent to your honors. That 
sone after the rising of the assembly in Jan'y last, 
three delinquents were committed from Windham, 
and two others from New London county, where- 
upon, notwithstanding the severity of the season, 
we immediately set about making those further 
securities that your Honors directed, and have 
built a strono^ losr house 36 feet in length and 20 
feet in width, with timbers 10 inches square, 
divided into two rooms, one of which includes the 
west shaft, and in the other, which is designed for 
the miners to lodge in, &:c., we have built a chim- 
ney, and compleated the whole except the under 
floor, the planks for which are not yet sufficiently 
dryed and fit to lay, and some ceiling to secure 
the miners from the cold winds, which otherwise 
will pass betwixt the timbers. We have also 
secured the east shaft where the first prisoner 
escaped, with iron and stone, and every other 
place where we thought it possible for any to 
escape ; and we apprehend that said prison is now 
well secured and fitted to receive and employ those 
oftenders that may be sent there. An account of 
our disbursements, &c., we have ready to lay be- 



40 Newgate of Connecticut. 

fore your honours or Auditors, to be appointed as 
your Honors shall direct. Your Honors must have 
heard that the prisoners have all escaped that pri- 
son ; it would be long, and perhaps difficult, in 
writing, to give a particular and distinct account 
how this was done ; your Honours will excuse us 
if we only say that they effected their escape by 
the help of evil minded persons abroad, before the 
necessary and proposed security s could be corn- 
pleated. We would further inform your Honours, 
that we had engaged two miners to assist the 
prisoners at work, who were to have been there 
about the time the prisoners escaped, and one of 
them actually left his business and came there a 
few days after the escape ; him we have retained, 
and to this time principally employed in compleat- 
ing the securities to the prison ; the other we gave 
intelligence of the escape before he left his busi- 
ness, and prevented his coming ; but have engaged 
him to attend when wanted. All which is sub- 
mitted to your Honours, by your Honours' most 
obedient and humble servants. 
Hartford, May 14th, 1774. 

In the spring of 1776, the prisoners attempted 
an escape by burning the block house over the 
shaft. A level had been opened from the bottom of 



Newgate of Connecticut. 41 

the mines through the hill westward, for the pur- 
pose of draining off the water, and the mouth of this 
level was chiefly closed by a heavy wooden door 
firmly fastened. They had by degrees collected 
sufficient combustibles, and with a piece of stone 
and steel they kindled a fire against the door, 
which burned as fast as damp fuel in a damp dun- 
geon naturally could; but instead of making their 
escape from the prison, they all nearly made their 
final escape from the world ; for the dense smoke 
and blue flame soon filled the apartment and 
almost suffocated them. Search being made, one 
of them was found dead, and five others were 
brought forth senseless, but finally recovered. 
They were afterwards placed in a strong wooden 
building, erected for the purpose above ground. 
They set this building on fire the next year, and 
burned it to the ground. Nearly all escaped, but 
several of them were afterwards retaken. A few 
years after, the block house, so called, was rebuilt, 
but prudence by the officers in the management 
was disregarded. Had they been more careful in 
adopting safeguards for themselves and the pri- 
soners, they might have avoided the dreadful scene 
which was soon to follow — a scene of conflict and 
blood ! 

6 



42 Newgate of Connecticut. 

As the war with England now raged with fury, 
the animosity between the Whigs and Tories had 
grown in proportion, and the seal of distinct party 
was in many places stamped with vivid impres- 
sion, so that at this period the number doomed to 
the prison had amounted to thirty, and many of 
them were Tories. They were a desperate set of 
men, and for their greater security a guard was 
allotted to each one, the thirty guards being armed 
with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. On the 
night of the 18th of May, 1781, the dreadful tra- 
gedy occurred which resulted in the escape of all 
the prisoners. A prisoner was confined, by the 
name of Young, and his wife wishing to be admit- 
ted into the cavern with him, she was searched, 
and while two officers were in the act of raising 
the haj;(ch to let her down, the prisoners rushed out, 
knocted down the two officers, and seizing the 
muskets of nearly all the rest who were asleep, 
immediately took possession of the works, and 
thrust most of the guards into the dungeon after a 
violent contest. One of them, Mr. Gad Sheldon, 
was mortally wounded, fighting at his post, and 
six more wounded severely. Said a venerable old 
lady recently deceased : " It was a dreadful sight 
" to see the wounded guard, as they were brought 



Newgate of Connecticut. 43 

"into our house one after another, and laid upon 
"the floor, weltering in their blood! When I 
*'came into the room, the faithful Sheldon sat on a 
"bench, his body bent forward, and a bayonet 
" dripping with blood lying before him, which he 
" had just drawn out of his breast — it was a deadly 
" stab !" Many of the prisoners were wounded ; 
some of them were assailed and gashed by their 
comrades through mistake, while ^ghting in the 
darkness of the conflict. Nearly all made their 
escape ; some from their wounds were unable to 
flee. One was taken on a tree in Turkey hills, 
east of the mountain ; a few others were found in 
swamps and barns in the neighboring towns. 

A Committee was appointed by the A^embly, 
then in session, to repair to Newgate and inquire 
into the facts respecting the insurrection. They 
report the evidence in the case, some of which it 
is curious to notice in their own words. ''Jacob 
*' Southwell was awakened by the tumult, took a 
" gun and run out of the guard-house, and durst 
" not go back for fear they would hurt him. N. B. 
'* A young man more fit to carry fish to market, than to 
" keep guard at Newgate. Nathan Phelps was also 
" asleep — wak'd but could do nothing, the prison- 
" ers having possession of the guard-house (a small 



44 Newgate of Connecticut. 

" lad just fit to drive Plow with a very gentle 
" Team.) He went to Mr. Viets's and stayed till 
" morning (poor boy) ! Abagail, the wife of Jno. 
*' Young, alias Mattick, says that the first night she 
*' came to the prison, she gave to her husband 52 
*' silver dollars — her husband told her after he 
" came out that he had given Sergt. Lilly 50 of 
" them in order that he may suffer the prisoners to 
*' escape — that Tie told her the Sergt. purposely left 
" the door of the south jail unlocked — that Sergt. 
*' Lilly was not hurt — that she borrowed the money 
"of a pedler — that she heard Lilly say, it was a 
"great pity such likely men should live and die 
" in that place." 

Nov. 6th, 1782, the wooden buildings of the pri- 
son were again destroyed by fire, and doubtless 
by design, in order to aid the escape of the Tories 
in confinement. This was the third time the pri- 
son buildings had been burned in nine years, since 
its first inauguration, and more than one-half 
the whole number of convicts had escaped by 
various means. The authorities probably by 
this time began to change their opinion that " it 
" would be next to impossible for any person to es- 
*' cape," and that as a Yankee once said, it was 
" dangerous being safe." 



Neivgate of Connecticut. 45 

The following is too rich in orthography to he 
omitted. It is recorded as written in 1783: 

To the Hon. General assembly, The humble peti- 
shen of Able Davis — whare as at the honerahle su- 
pene court houlden in Hartford in December last 
I was conficted of mis Deminer on the count of 
newgate being burnt as I had comand of said gard 
and was orded to bee confind 3 month and pay 
fourteen pounds for disabaing orders, I cant read 
riten, but I did all in my power to Distingus the 
flame, but being very much frited and not the 
faculty to doe as much in distress as I could an- 
other time and that is very smaul, what to do I 
thot it was best to let out the prisners that was in 
the botams as I had but just time to get the gates 
lifted before the hous was in flames, and the gard 
being frited it twant in my power to scape them. 
I now pray to be Deflehaned from further in pris- 
ment, and the const of said sute as I hante abel 
to pay the const, or give me the liberty of the yard 
as I am very unwell as your pitishner in Duty 

bound will for ever pray. 

Abel Daveis. 

Hartford Goal January 14th 1783. 



46 Newgate of Connecticut. 

The struggles at this prison to subdue Toryism, 
were doubtless greater than at any other place in 
any of the Colonies. Many of those in confine- 
ment were men of talents, spirit, and wit; and 
they occasionally indulged their proclivities by 
making poetry in derision of the measures which 
were carried on by the patriots against England. 
The following are a part of some rhymes (^refer- 
ring to the patriots) composed by them, and sent 
to their keeper : 

" Many of them in halters will swing, 
" Before John Hancock will ever be king." 

John Hancock, being one of the most ardent 
friends of the Revolution, was particularly obnox- 
ious to the British, and a price was set on his 
head ; this raised the spirit of the colonists, and 
they at once elected him President of Congress, 
which drew upon him the special odium of the 
Tories. 

The following is from the original now in the 
possession of thfe author : 

" Mr. Viets: If you have any 7n€et cooked, you 

"will much oblidge me by sending me a dinner, 

" for I suffer for want. 

" Peter Sackett." 



Neivgate of Connecticut, 47 

This man was one of the thirty who were en- 
gaged in a bloody contest with the guard, and he 
made his escape at that time. The imprisoned 
Tories were not without sympathisers, and spiritual 
comforters. The Rev'd Roger Viets, an Episcopal 
clergyman, occasionally expounded the gospel 
to them, and taught them the gospel precept. 
Honor the King. His reverence was a noted good 
liver among the people, and besides what was 
given to him in donations, he received annually 
40 pounds from the established Church of Eng- 
land. American liberty becoming at length so 
popular, and treason so opprobrious, he finally 
took sudden leave, and emigrated to the British 
dominions of Nova Scotia, where his descendants 
now reside in respectable circumstances. 

A Tory Clergyman in Newgate. 

The choicest specin^n of black hearted treason 
under the cloak of priestly sanctity, was exhibited 
in the person of a Tory by the name of Simeon 
Baxter, who was confined in the caverns. From 
which of the thirteen colonies he was sent, is not 
ascertained, but he must have been regarded by 
the people as a real champion of Toryism. He 
preached a sermon to his companions in prison 
in 1781, which was printed in London soon 



48 Netvgate of Connecticut. 

after. A copy now extant has been furnished for 
this work by the kindness of George Brinlry, Esq., 
of Hartford, and on account of its novelty of 
conception, acrimony of spirit, ability and pun- 
gency, it is here published entire, with its title 
in full, according to the print. It will be ob- 
served that the text, as he quotes it, varies from 
the precise phraseology of the scriptures; the 
words " having descended " being surreptitiously 
employed, probably because he considered them 
an improvement on the scriptures as applicable 
to his situation, he being compelled to descend 
into the caverns. Whatever may be thought of 
his sentiments, the ability with which the dis- 
course was written proves its author to have 
been a man of powerful intellect and of consi- 
derable research, zealously determined to incite 
his companions to deeds of blood. It is indeed 
wonderful that Gen. IVa^ington or the Conti- 
nental Congress escaped assassination, when such 
vindictive characters boldly advised a resort to 
the dagger in order to exterminate the friends of 
liberty. 



Newgate of Connecticut 49 

Tyrannicide proved Lawful^ from the Practice and Writ- 
ings of Jews, Heathens and Christians : A Discourse, 
delivered in the Mines at Symsbury, in the Colony of 
Connecticut, to the Loyalists confined there hy Order of 
the Congress, on September 19, 1781, by Simeon Baxter, 
a Licentiate in Divinity, and voluntary Chaplain to those 
Prisoners in the Apartment called Orcus : , 

Having descended, he preached to the Spirits iu Prison. — 1st Peter, iii, 19. 
Regnabit sanguine multo — ad Regnum quisquis venit ah Exilo. Whoever 
comes to His kiugdom from exile, he will rule with much blood. — Sue- 
tonius's life of Nero. 

Printed in America; London, Ueprinted for S. Bladon in Pater-Noster- 

KOW, MDCCLXXXII. 



To General Washington, and the Congress styling them- 
selves Governors and Protectors of Thirteen Colonies 
belonging to the Crown of England : 

Gentlemen, That you may have the honour of 
dying for the people, instead of their dying for 
you and your allies, was the design I had in 
preaching and publishing this discourse ; and 
should it produce the desired effect, I shall think 
myself paid for all my trouble and expence. If 
you can bestow one generous deed on your ruined 
country, adopt the act of Suicide to balance the 
evils of your lives, and save the virtuous citizens 

7 



50 Newgate of Connecticut 

of America the glorious trouble of doing justice 

on you. 

Remember Judas was not a patriot till he 

hanged himself for betraying his Saviour and 

his God. Go and do thou likewise and you will 

prove yourselves real Saviours of America, and 

like him, hold a place in the temple of everlasting 

Fame. Should your courage or your virtue fail 

in so meritorious a deed, sacred Religion stands 

on tiptoe to inspire all her children by some 

hidden thunder or some burnished weapon, to 

do it for you, and to save themselves from Nim- 

rod's paradise. When you are dead, your grateful 

countrymen will not let your Honours lie in dust, 

but will raise you to some airy tomb between the 

drooping clouds and parching sands : then your 

exaltation will make islands glad ; Peace with 

new-fledged wings shall fly through every state, 

and echo happiness to weeping willows ; nay, the 

mourning doves shall forsake the wilderness to 

chant your praises ; and the mope-eyed owls, in 

open day, shall view with wonder your patriotic 

virtues. 

The Author. 



Newgate of Connecticut. 51 

'Vo the Protestant Rebel Ministers of the Gospel in the 
Tliirteen Confederated Colonies in America : 

Gentlemen — The bloody part you have acted in 
obedience to your creditors, the merchant smug- 
glers, both in the pulpit and the field, with your 
spiritual and temporal swords, entitles you to the 
second class of patriots, who disgrace religion with 
hypocricy, and hu-ftianity with barbarity. Specta- 
tors with great justice have decided, that you are 
the successors of him who went to and fro seeking 
whom he might devour, and not of him who went 
about doing good. Inasmuch as you began rebel- 
lion because your King would not persecute, but 
tolerate his faithful catholic subjects in Canada, 
and to support your rebellion, you have since joined 
yourselves unto idols, and made alliance with the 
Papists of France to root up the protestant religion, 
for which our fathers bled and died, inasmuch as 
you have out-acted the Pope, discarded and abjured 
your rightful king, neglected to visit those in prison, 
and forbid the exercise of that charity to the miser- 
able, which hide a multitude of sins, I must take 
leave of you in the words spoken to your prede- 
cessors by the Savior of all penitent sinners, "Go 
your way for I know you not." 

The Author. 



52 Newgate of Connecticut 

Sermon. 

Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, 
and said to Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over 
us? and what is this that thou hast done unto us ? and he said unto them. 
As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. — Judges, xv, 11. 

In the begining of this chapter we are told that 
the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of 
the Lord, for which they were delivered into the 
hands of the Philistines forty years; a heavy judg- 
ment to fall under the power of any people without 
law, justice, or mercy ! yet God has considered 
such calamity as due to idolaters, and the enemies 
of common sense. Whatever nation is govered 
by a set of men like the Philistines, without any 
fixed rules of right, is controlled by a set of beasts, 
with sharp horns, arrogance, and pride. Israel 
being thus in bondage, God raised up Samson to 
deliver them, who went do^vn to Timnath, and 
took a wife of the Philistines, of whom he was 
unjustly robbed, without hopes of any legal redress. 
After this .outrage, Samson had a just opportunity 
to make war upon them, which he did, though 
unassisted and opposed by his servile countrymen. 
The men of Judah, like modern politicians, were 
alarmed at the war which threatend them, and 
sought peace with Philistines by joining against 



Newgate of Connecticut. 53 

their deliverer, and accosted him in the words of 
the text. " What is this that thou hast done unto 
us ?" Samson answered, and justified his conduct 
upon the law of nature : " As they have done unto 
me so have I done unto them," — a good defence 
against the Philistines, who acted upon private 
principles, and trampled under foot the laws of 
God and civil society. Had the case been other- 
wise, Samson, who judged Israel twenty years, and 
whom the Lord blessed, woukl have sought justice 
from the decision of an impartial judge, instead of 
redressing himself by the natural law of retaliation. 
There are but two ways of deciding differences; 
the one is by law, the other by force. The first is 
the rule of men formed into civil societies ; the 
second of men and beasts in the state of nature. 

Kings of civil societies, in a just war, have re- 
course to the state of nature, and use their last 
arguments, when justice cannot be had for injuries 
received. Cicero, one of the luminaries of the 
heathen world, asserts that ''war is supported by 
''us against those of whom we can obtain no law." 
Grotius, the great oracle of Christians, saith, that 
" the law forbids me to pursue my right but by a 
" course of law." This is a good rule in civil 
society, where justice is administered according to 



54c Neivgate of Connecticut. 

the laws of right, where the innocent are protected 
against oppressors ; but in a state of nature, where 
no law but that of power doth exist, the maxim of 
Grotius is not applicable, unless the nature of law 
is to support the tyrants, and oppress the afflicted. 
Moses, the legislator of the Jews, knowing that 
men were partial to themselves, unjust to others, 
and unfit to be their own judged, ordered contro- 
versies to be decided according to the law : but 
whilst Israel was in Egypt, law and justice had 
no place ; whereupon Moses, to point out the law 
of nature, set an example to be followed by all 
men on proper occasions; he saw his brethren 
oppressed, an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, and 
knowing he could obtain no legal satisfaction, 
erected an high court of justice, and smote the 
Egyptian, which proves we may revert to the law 
of nature, and repel force by force, and do justice 
for ourselves when no legal justice can be had. If 
this be not the case, law is a scourge to the op- 
pressed, and a protection to tyrants, which is con- 
trary to the spirit of all laws, which always provide 
remedies for slaves against their cruel masters. 
Since the law of God and man takes care for slaves, 
and protects them from the injuries of their masters, 
how unreasonable is it, that the free people of 



Newgate of Connecticut. 55 

America, who have only God for their master, 
should find no redress against the oppressions of a 
barbarous set of usurpers and tyrants, who have 
laid waste our once happy country, and murdered 
our friends and relations before our eyes; who, to 
calm our complaints of misery, either hang us upon 
trees, or cast us into some darksome prison, where 
their midnight assassins launch us out of time. 
Merciful God ! if our wives and children have the 
privilege of starving in the streets, we are taught 
to reverence the favour as an act of lenity in 
Congress and its associates ! 

Since we live in an evil time, when all laws of 
civil society are repealed, " the whole head sick 
'* and the heart faint," the people crouching be- 
neath their burdens and crying " let us alone that 
" we may serve the Egyptians," while the Levites 
from their pulpits, like the men of Judah from the 
top of Etam, are proclaiming "know you not that 
"the congress are rulers over us? and is it not 
"better to serve them than to die by the hand of 
" Saul or the bitter waters of Marah ?" Since this 
is not the voice of wisdom, but of Athalia, of Mat- 
tan and his priests who were slain at the horse 
gate and the altar, according to the law of retalia- 
tion, let us return to our natural right, and act 



56 Newgate of Connecticut 

the magistrate upon those usurpers who have shut 
up the course of justice. For our encouragement 
we have for our example the prophet Samuel, who 
performed justice upon Agag with his own iiand, 
saying "as thy sword has made women childless, 
" so shall thy mother be childless among women," 
a very proper punishment for tyrants, who advance 
themselves above the reach of all justice, except 
the prayers of the people, and the dagger of an 
Ehud. Providence and Nature have ever united 
devotion and a javelin in the hands of a Judith, 
and a Jael, to bring down an Holofernes, and a 
Sisera ; because tyrants are such devils as cannot 
be cast out by prayer and fastings, unless aided by 
the workman's hammer. Those weapons unite 
Heaven and Earth to govern such men as will not 
be governed by civil laws, that every man might, 
agreeable to the Gospel, reap what he sows, and 
receive the same measure which he has meted out 
to others. We may complain with Jeremiah and 
say, "Why do the wicked prosper and the treacher- 
" ous wax fat? How long shall the land mourn, and 
" the herbs of the field wither ?" We may add, 
that America resembles the state of the Jews upon 
the rivers of Babylon; for she has long hung her 
harps upon the willows, and forgot the mirth of 



Newgate of Connecticut. 57 

Zion : " her children are gone forth, and are not ; 
" each one is crying, AVoe is me, for I am hurt ; 
" my wound is grievous, and I must bear it ; her 
" pastors are brutish, their work is the work of 
*• errors, the land is in mourning ; her spoilers are 
" seated upon high places to keep peace from all 
" flesh ;" and no Moses, no Ehud, no Samuel, no 
Samson, no Jehoida, no Jael, nor Judith, hath ap- 
peared with a patriotic dagger, to do justice upon 
our tyrants, and save a sinking country ! Surely j 
this is not for want of Patriots, but for the want of 
truly understanding the laws of God, nature, and 
civil society, which permit all men to kill theives, 
breaking up houses in the night, lest they should 
escape justice by the help of darkness. Tyrants 
are worse robbers than the midnight thieves, for 
they hold themselves above justice, and the laws 
of civil society, which renders it necessary to repel 
force by force, and restore perfect liberty, the 
genuine fruit of law. If this is not the case, if 
laws of society bind us to submit to usurpers act- 
ing opposite to law, a solitary life in the state of 
nature is preferable to civil society; but experience 
has taught the world, that there is no protection 
out of civil society, and in a state of nature we are 
all Ishmaels, whose hands are against one another. 

8 



58 Newgate of Connecticut. 

Men enter into civil societies, but not barely to 
exist, which they might do dispersed as other 
animals, but to live happy, and agreeable to the 
dignity of human nature. To effect this noble 
view, men agree to submit their passions and ap- 
petites to the laws of reason and justice ; and when- 
ever lust, avarice, and ambition, are not, and can 
not be regulated by the laws of the state, social 
liberty ceases, and natural liberty revives, wherein 
*?very man is a soldier, a Moses, a Samson, and 
may without incurring the guilt of murder, kill 
those uncircumcised Philistines with a javelin or 
any other weapon. By thus doing, men act upon 
the first law which is self-preservation, against 
thieves, tygers and beasts of prey, a law which is 
above all political precepts and rules, and superior 
to every opinion of the mind. Since it is lawful to 
use any means in destroying tyrants, let us act 
gloriously in so doing, and free our country of 
the noxious Congress, under whose usurpations 
thousands have been murdered, and tens of 
thousands have been plundered. Having thus 
briefly touched upon the laws of God, of nature, 
and of nations, respecting the freedom and the 
rights of men, I shall, 

1st. Enquire whether Congress are usurpers 
and tyrants, or a legal body of men. 



Newgate of Connecticut, 59 

2nd. Prove it the duty of all Protestants to do 
justice on tliem as Samson did on the Philis- 
tines. 

3d. Point out the benefit and necessity of so 
doing. As to the first head, we shall find congress 
may claim with great justice and little honour, the 
dignity of being both usurpers and tyrants. The 
civil law describes him to be an usurper who 
governs without any right; and the tyrant is he 
who governs contrary to the laws. My business is 
to show who have a right to govern, and what 
makes the power just. Fathers have a natural 
right to govern their wives and children, because 
they defend and support them; and in return the 
wives and children owe and pay subjection and 
obedience. Civil society is made up of several in- 
dependent families by general consent, or by the 
command of God. Nature and revelation point out 
the necessity of having some to rule, and others to 
obey the rules and laws appointed by God, or the 
people, who alone have the power to alter natural 
liberty, and establish civil societies. The rulers 
are to be obeyed so far as they command according 
to the laws, and no farther ; and the great body 
of the people are the judges to determine when 
the rulers govern by the laws, and when they do 
not; for the people arc the legislators, and subjects 



60 Newgate of Connecticut. 

of their laws, and not subjects of their magistrates. 
Notwithstanding this, a servant by the laws of God 
may say, I will not be free, and can bind myself to 
serve forever. Ex. xxi, 5. And the same power is 
vested in every society, as appears from the history 
of Saul and David. 

It is very true, that God appointed Saul to be 
king over the people, to punish them for their in- 
gratitude, which rendered Saul's power absolute, 
and passive obedience and non-resistance of divine 
authority ; but Samuel anointed David king, who, 
after Saul's death was confirmed by the elders of 
Israel at Hebron. 2 Sam. xi, 3. Those elders were 
the deputies of the people, authorised to limit 
David's kingly power; for before his inauguration, 
they obliged him by compact to govern justly, i. e. 
to protect the good, and to execute wrath upon the 
evil. Thus David became a minister of God to 
rule for the good of his people. Hence it is plain 
that all just power of government originates from 
God or the people ; therefore, all who arrogate to 
themselves the power of governing, and can not 
produce a commission from God or the people, are 
usurpers and tyrants, who may oppress but can not 
govern. To such a power, people may be subject 
for wrath, but not for conscience sake. 



Newgate of Connecticut 



61 



After what has heen suggested, have we not 
reason and a natural right to ask Congress, " who 
"made you rulers over us? If God, why have not 
" you published your commission ? If the people, 
" where was the place that we assembled ? when 
" did we give our consent ? who were our elders 
**to confirm your mighty power?"* 

Whenever Congress shall answer these import- 
ant and natural questions, and prove their authority 
to be from heaven or of men, I will gladly quit my 



* True it \& that near one 
hundred persons convened at 
Wethersfield, according to an 
advertisement signed by one 
Thomas Seymour, a lawyer, and 
chose a member to represent in 
Congress the County of Hart- 
ford, containing above sixty 
thousand souls. But it is pre- 
sumed that previous to the 
choice of members of Congress, 
the question whether there should 
be a Congress, ought to have 
been put to the vote. That 
however, was artfully evaded ; 
a vast majority of the people 
were thereby divested of their 
weight in the Colony, as it 
would have been in the highest 



degree absurd and nugatory 
to have voted for members of a 
Congress which did not exist, and 
which they would not have 
suflfered to exist, had a fair 
opportunity been given for 
their votes on that point. This 
was the case throughout most 
of the Colonies. The Congress 
once formed in that unfair 
manner, decreed that members 
in future should be elected only 
by the true friends of America; 
that is, such as should abjure 
their king and sign the league 
and covenant ; so that three 
fourths of the Colony of Con- 
necticut have never given a 
vote even for a Member. 



62 Newgate of Connecticut. 

chains, and submit to their dominion. Until these 
questions are duly answered, I will view my dun- 
geon as my palace, and continued to say, If 
changing the government established by our an- 
cestors, without our consent, or that of the king, 
or the nation of which we are a part ; if dissolving 
charters, oaths, laws, and establishing iniquity by 
the bayonet; if taking away men s lives, liberty 
and property, by Committees of Safety, the Inquisi- 
tion, and Star Chamber court in America ; if main- 
taining rebellion by force and fraud to the benefit 
of a junto, and to the destruction of the people of 
property ; if these things denote what is tycanny, 
Congress can not, with all its impudence, but own 
itself compo^^ed of the greatest tyrants that ever 
disgraced human nature. Congress having done 
all this, and commanded themselves to be prayed 
for as the supreme authority of America ; they 
have left us in the state either of David to pray for 
deliverance from cruel and unreasonable men, or 
to pray like the woman of Syracuse for Dionysius. 
I shall now add some outward marks given of 
Ancient tyrants, to show the violence and deceit of 
Congress. "Tyrants" says Tacitus, " subvert laws 
" and government under colour of defending the 
" rights and liberties of the people ; and when they 
have got sufficient power, they rob the people of 



Neivgate of Connecticut. 63 

" all their rights." Plato says, "Tyrants practise 
" contrary to physicians, who purge us of our evil 
''humors, but they, of our purest blood." Ma- 
" chiavel says "Tyrants provide for ministers, when 
"they flatter and torture Scripture, to prove 
" usurpers lawful governors." Aristotle says, " The 
" most successful art of tyrants, is to pretend great 
" love for God and Religion." In these things we 
know Congress have excelled St. Oliver, and taught 
us that in godliness is great gain ; and that preach- 
ing and praying lead to other kingdoms besides 
that of heaven; we are also taught that its arms 
are not carnal, but protestant ; for they have 
overcome the church in defiance of all her prayers 
and tears. Had not modern Christians preferred 
the honour of being governed by a Protestant 
Congress, they might have had preaching for their 
tenths, instead of paying life, liberty, and property. 
To their comfort be it spoken. Congress manages 
the spiritual and temporal sword with as much 
dexterity as the Pope of Rome. Further evidence 
need not be produced of the tyranny of Congress, 
unless to such men as have great faith and little 
understanding; therefore since we both see and feel 
the merciless power of those beasts of prey, I shall 
proceed, secondly, to prove it the duty of all 



64 Newgate of Connecticut 

Protestants to do justice on Congress, as Samson 
did on the Philistines. Among us are two sects 
of Christians who daily pray to be delivered from 
the tyranny of those uncirciimcised Philistines, 
but conscientiously differ about the mode ; the 
one expects the Lord to remove them ; the other 
expects that deliverance will be given by a Samson, 
armed with the jawbone of an ass. The Tories 
believe patience to be the only lawful cure, when 
under the power of usurpers and tyrants ; the Whigs 
believe the safety of the people to be the first law, 
and laws to be above all rulers ; and that kings 
and governors are accountable for their conduct at 
the bar of the community. 

Here is the creed of those two sects touching 
lawful rulers ; but I must remind them, without 
condemning either, that no people of sober sense 
ever gave up justice and liberty in duty and con- 
science, to usurpers and tyrants, who are Ishmaels, 
and wholly excluded all human protection, because 
they are enemies to societies, subverters of laws, 
and murderers of individuals; it is for this reason 
justice dispenses with her forms, and leaves tyrants 
and usurpers in the number of those savage beasts 
who herd not together, but defend themselves by 
their own strength, and prey upon all weaker 



Newgate of Connecticut. 65 

animals. Would our Whigs and Tories reflect a 
few moments upon the nature of civil society, and 
upon what Tully says of laws, magistrates and 
people, they would discover laws to be above 
magistrates, as they are above individuals. It 
follows, that, when the depravity of men's wills 
renders them unfit to live in human society, it is 
murder in the community to let them live. If, 
then, in the land of peace, legal rulers degenerate 
into tyrants, weary people, and merit death, what 
deserve usurpers and tyrants, who, like the swell- 
ings of Jordan, sweep the world of safety by their 
iron rods ? 

Since we know that usurpers hold themselves 
above all justice but the stroke of some generous 
hand, we are to consider laws of civil society in 
regard to them as cobwebs, and no longer act like 
the Athenians, who punished only little thieves. 
If we were beasts, we should have a right to pro- 
tect ourselves against our enemies; and as men 
and Christians, we can not have less by entering 
into civil society. Let us, then, awake from slum- 
ber, and convince those men who shun justice in 
the court, that they shall meet it in their beds ; for 
they are armed against all, and all may lawfully 
arm against them. Nothing is more absurd than 

9 



66 Newgate of Connecticut. 

to kill thieves, vipers and bears, to prevent their 
cruel designs, and at the same time preserve Con- 
gress from acting much worse than the others 
intended. No one can any longer doubt of the 
lawfulness of destroying public robbers, whenever 
prudence points out the way, since the laws of God 
and men make it lawful to extirpate private rob- 
bers. Let us live in constant faith that Heaven 
will soon sanctify some patriotic hand, armed with 
some sacred iveapon, to bring down that bloody and 
deceitful house, which holds its existence not only 
to the misery, but to the everlasting infamy of 
Protestant America. The action is not only lawful, 
but glorious in idea, and immortal in its reward ! 
Were not these sentiments supported by the wise 
and grave among the ancients, and the Jesuits and 
Protestants of the last century, I should not have 
preached them in this dreary abode. But to wipe 
all doubts from your minds, I will produce some 
authorities to support what has been said. 

Tertullian says : " Against common enemies and 
traitors to the rights and majesty of the people 
everything is lawful." 

Xenophon says: " The Grecians erected in their 
temples among their gods, statues for those that 
killed tyrants." 



Newgate of Connecticut. 67 

It was enacted by the Valerian law, that " who- 
ever made themselves rulers without command 
from the people, were tyrants, and might be killed." 

Plutarch says: "It is lawful to kill usurpers 
without tryal." 

Polybius says : " Men of the greatest virtues con- 
spired against and killed tyrants." 

Cicero applauds Brutus for conspiring against 
Julius Csesar: "What action, O! Jubiter, more 
glorious, more worthy of eternal memory?" 

At Athens, according to Solon's law, " death was 
decreed for tyrants and their abettors." 

Plato says : " When tyrants can not be expelled 
by law, the citizens may use secret practices." 
The reason is, community must be preserved from 
the rage of tyrants, who can receive no injustice, 
either by force or fraud. Thus you have the opin- 
ions of the ancients ; while the history of Rome, 
Christian and Germanic states and England teaches 
us the same doctrines and practices. 

The Jesuits, in Spain and France, have ever held 
the knife of justice as a law for tyrants. Our 
fathers in the last century erected a high court of 
justice for a tyrant, his reverend and right reverend 
abettors. Congress and the governors of our 
respective states, have sufficiently proved by their 



68 Newgate of Connecticut. 

practices, that the killing of tyrants and their adhe- 
rents is not mnrderous, but truly Christian, upon 
which principle, America armed against her right- 
till king : and, for the same reason, we that love 
our country may destroy the self-created Congress, 
which sits in Caesars chair, above citation, or a 
court of justice. What Whig or Tory will be con- 
tent with formal remedies which are far off? — what 
justice can we expect from malelactors who have 
the power to hang and assassinate their rightful 
judges '. Consonant to what uas been said about 
tyrants and usurpers, stands the law of God. viz: 
•' He that acts presumptuously shall surely die.'' In 
such a case, every man is judge and executioner. 
By this law. Moses slew the Egyptians; Ehud 
slew Egloii ; Samson, the Philistines : Samuel, 
Agag; and Jehoida, Athaliah. By parity of reason, 
every Cicero and Brutus may smite hip and thigh, 
the Congress, its Mattans and Janizaries, for they 
have presumptuously smote our children and 
countrymen with whips of brass, fed them with 
passive obedience, and cloathed them in prisons 
with famine, nakedness and death. It can not be 
iniamous to destroy them by whonl all America is 
oppressed: because Moses is immortalized in the 
records of God, for killing an individual who 



Newgate of Connecticut. 69 

oppressed another. This we may depend on, that 
whatever was lawful and right in Moses, Ehud and 
Samson, is lawful and right for Whigs and Tories in 
America ; for the laws of nature, retaliation and 
justice, are the same here as they were in Jewry. 
Some people object, and say that these examples 
taken from Holy Scripture, were of men sent by 
God to kill those several tyrants, and we have not 
the like commission. Milton, of immortal fame, 
has answered this objection. Says he : " If God 
commanded tyrants to be killed, it is a sign that 
tyrants ought to die." Besides, we read that all 
the people of the land rejoiced, and the city had 
rest after Athaliah was slain with the sword; that 
the people obeyed Jehoiada asking for the good he 
had done, and buried him among their princes ; 
which was but half the reward given to this patriot, 
for the divine historian has recorded his generous 
deed in the book of God, where the last man that 
lives shall read his eulogies, and the just com- 
mand which he gave, to kill the followers of Atha- 
liah ; a proper warning to our Protestant Levites, 
our generals and committees of safety, to repent, 
lest they likewise perish with their masters, by the 
workman's hammer. But the objection supposes 
what in fact is not true ; for Samson and those 



70 Newgate of Connecticut, 

other worthies who killed tyrants, never alledged 
the command of God for what they did, but 
defended themselves upon the plea of retaliation — 
*'As they did unto me, so have I done unto them." 
God had not appeared to Moses in the bush prior 
to his smiting the Egyptian ; and Jehoiada had 
only the call which is common to all men — to do 
natural justice when legal can not be had. Some 
people pretend to believe Congress are not usurpers 
and tyrants, because traffic and appeals are carried 
on under their dominion, which argues a tacit 
consent of the public. 

To prove these men mistaken, I need only say, 
that commerce and pleading were carried on in 
Rome under Caligula and Nero, yet those who 
conspired against them were not deemed rebels, 
but were eternized for their virtue. 

Having pointed out the marks and practices of 
tyrants and usurpers, and shown the lawfulness 
and glory of killing them, I shall now, in the third 
and last place, hint the benefits and necessity of 
doing it. 

What is our present condition ? Are we not 
slaves and living instruments of Congress, Wash- 
ington and the Protestant Ministers, and their 
Romish allies ? Poor wretches, indeed, are we ! 



Neivgate of Connecticut. 71 

Cozened out of peace, religion, liberty and property ; 
robbed of the blessings of Judah ; and cursed with 
the spirit and burden of Issachar, by a set of men 
without virtue, or the generous vices attending 
greatness ! Is it no wonder that slaves should lose 
their courage with their virtue, for who can fight 
for Caesar ^ that despises them, or for Nero, when 
every victory gained for him confirms their bondage, 
and adds a new rivet to their chains. Thus are 
we compelled to live, or not to live at all; deliver- 
ance is not to be hoped for from our patience, 
because usurpers are never modest but in the hour 
of weakness ; nor was any government ever man- 
aged with justice, that was gained by villainy. 
Liberty and bondage are now before us; those 
who choose bondage are to murder Brutus ; and 
those who choose liberty, are to kill the uncircum- 
cised Congress. Yet I find some men scruple to 
kill their oppressors with a dagger in the dark, 

* The American Loyalists severity of its military forces, 

have little reason to confide in which have killed and plunder- 

the mercy of the British army cd more Loyalists than Rebels, 

and navy, who have uniformly no nation could censure them 

for seven years treated them if they, like Congress, should 

mueh worse than they have the buy their good will, at the 

Rebels ; and should they judge expense of their allegiance, 
the English nation by the 



72 Newgate of Connecticut 

although they allow it lawful to destroy a thief 
that comes unarmed to rob; those men seem to 
forget the law of self-preservation, the danger of 
open force, and that tyrants are such devils as rend 
the body in the act of exorcism. 

How can it be lawful to kill oppressors in an 
open field, prepared to rob the men they mean to 
murder, and unlawful to kill such villains in the 
dark, without hazard to the patriot or to the com- 
monwealth ? If it is expedient to lance an impost- 
hume to save a life, it is lawful to lance the Con- 
gress to save the libertiesof our country ; for those 
boars of the wilderness have broken down the walls 
pf the vineyard, and destroyed the vintage with 
unlimited power, which always subverts civil 
society, and turns a Cicero into a Caligula. Our 
religion, and all we call valuable, are in danger. 
Despotism is now predominant; and America, 
once the asylum of Protestants, persecuted beyond 
the seas, is sold to the mother of harlots, and will 
soon be cursed with the Inquisition to establish 
Congress and its generals, as the hereditary lords 
of the land. Tyranny and oppressions have 
increased with the age of Congress, and our deliv- 
erance depends upon the virtuous spears of an 
injured people, or upon the generosity of our tyrants 



Newgate of Connecticut 73 

by hanging themselves. But since we know they 
lack this virtue, nothing remains for the patriots 
but to do justice upon them, and to immortalize 
their heads upon well erected gibbets. Whatever 
Congress may think of this proposed exaltation, 
they may depend upon it, that eight-tenths of the 
people would rejoice at the sight, and the children 
yet unborn would be happy under their rightful 
king. 

Some serious Whigs who have lost their courage 
with their fortunes, groan under their present 
burdens and say, " we fear the consequence of de- 
stroying " Congress." I answer, could we be in a 
worse condition by a change, the bare desire of a 
change would be a sign of madness. Common sense 
forbids me to undergo certain misery, for fear of con- 
tingent evils ; or to let a fever rage because there is 
danger of taking physic. I am now in prison, 
where I must infallibly perish if I am not relieved ; 
and shall I refuse deliverance from this darksome 
dungeon for fear of being confined in some other 
place? Heaven forbid such madness! Let us re- 
member the rock from whence we were hewn. 
Had we not ancestors in the last century who pre- 
ferred liberty and religion in this howling wilder- 
ness, to despotism and persecution in Brittannia's 

10 



74 ' Newgate of Connecticut 

fertile fields? Are we so far degenerated as to bow- 
down to tyrants and usurpers ? Our fathers resisted 
lions, and killed tyrants without committing mur- 
der and shall we submit to wolves and beasts of prey 
to let usurpers live ? No ! let the examples of Ehud, 
Samson, Moses, and Cromwell, lead us back to 
glory, virtue, and religion. If America"^ can pro- 
duce no such heroes, we must exclaim with the 
children of Israel, "Would to God we had died in 
" the land of Egypt, where we sat by the flesh pots, 
"and eat bread to the full ;" for then, as Cicero 
says, " the quality of our master would have graced 
" our condition as slaves." We have rights of civil 
society to restore ; we have honour, virtue, and 
religion to maintain ; let us therefore take the first 
prudent opportunity to revenge our wrongs, and 
kill those tyrants who are lurking in every corner 
to spy out our motions, and murder the innocent. 
Their motto is to destroy or be destroyed. There- 
fore, let safety rouse us into action, let Fame 
reward the sacred hand of him that gives the fatal 
blow; let his name live forever with Cato, and 
with Brutus. O how I long to save my country by 
one heroic immortal action ! but alas ! my chains 
and dreary mansion, where the light of conscience 
reigns without the light of the sun, of the moon. 



Neivgate of Connecticut. 75 

or the stars ! * To you, my virtuous countrymen, 
who are free of the chains with which I am loaded, 
I conclude my address. It is now in your power to 
circumcise, to put down those uncircumcised 
tyrants, and to restore yourselves to your social 
rights. You know the action that will do the 
business, and which shall register your names 
among the Gods and bravest men. Patriotism 
warms your souls, and thousands are burning with 
ambition to join and save your country from 
Romish bondage. Make haste ! for the spirit of 
understanding causeth me to speak in the language 
of Zophar, "Let death and destruction fall upon" 
Congress "because they have oppressed and for- 
" gotten the poor; let afire not blown, consume 
" them ; if they escape the iron weapons, strike 
"them through with a bow of steel, for knowest 
" thou not this of old, since man was placed upon 
"earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, 
" and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment." 
And although the devils are come down in great 
wrath, with power in their mouths, and in their 

* Vide the History of Con- tlie infernal prison at Syms- 

necticut, page 175, published bury, 40 yards below the sur- 

by J. Bew, Pater Noster Row ; face of the earth, 
where is a just description of 



76 Newgate of Connecticut. 

tails ; although their heads reach the clouds, and 
though they do hurt with their tails ; yet their 
murders, their fornication, and their thefts shall 
be revealed, and the earth shall rise against them, 
" to feed them with the poison of asps. The viper's 
" tongue shall pierce them through, and their great- 
" ness shall be chased away as a vision of the night. 
"This is the portion of the wicked." 

Finis. 

N. B. The notes on pp. 61, 71 and 75, are by the author of the sermon. 

In 1781 Congress applied to Gov. Trumbull of 
Connecticut (known by the appellation of Brother 
Jonathan), for the use of the mines as a prison " for 
" the reception of British prisoners of war, and for 
" the purpose of retaliation." The Governor laid 
the matter before the Assembly, who agreed to the 
proposition, and requested him to furnish Congress 
with the estimates, but as a termination of the war 
was anticipated soon, the negotiation ended. 

This place won a reputation for strength and 
security throughout the country, though there was 
more strength in its name than in reality. Six 
years previously, Genl. Washington sent several 
prisoners to be confined in the dungeon, whom he 



Newgate of Connecticut, 77 

regarded as " atrocious villains." The following 
letter from him will be read with interest. It is 
directed to the Committee of Safety at Simsbury : 

Cambridge^ Dec. 7th, 1775. 
Gentlemen : The prisoners which will be deli- 
vered you with this, having been tried by a Court 
martial and deemed to be such flagrant and atro- 
cious villains, that they can not by any means be 
set at large, or confined in any place near this 
camp, were sentenced to Simsbury, in Connecticut. 
You will therefore be pleased to have them secured 
in your jail, or in such other manner as to you 
shall seem necessary, so that they can not possibly 
make their escape. The charges of their imprison- 
ment will be at the Continental expense. 
I am, &c., 

George Washington. 

The vindictive cruelty of the Tories is shown by 
the following extract from Barber's Historical Col- 
lections of Connecticut : 

On the night following the 14th of March, 
1780, the house of Capt. Ebenezer Dayton, then 
residing in the town of Bethany, was broken into 
and robbed by seven men, who were Tories, and 
headed by a British officer, from Long Island. Mr. 



78 Newgate of Connecticut 

Dayton^ s house was situated nearly opposite where 
the first meeting house ifi Bethany was erected, 
about half a mile south of the present Congregation- 
al church, and about ten miles northwest of New 
Haven. The particulars of this robbery were 
obtained from the Rev. Mr. Dayton, son of Capt. 
Dayton mentioned above. Mr. Dayton, who belong- 
ed to Long Island, was, on account of his attach- 
ment to the American cause, obliged to leave that 
island, and bring his effects with him to Bethany. 
A number of men, some of his neighbors, were 
obliged to leave the island for the same cause, and 
brought a considerable quantity of money with 
them, and for a while resided in Mr. Dayton's house. 
With these facts the robbers appear to have become 
acquainted. At the time of the robbery, Mr. Day- 
ton was absent on business at Boston, and the men 
who had been staying in the house, had left the 
day before, so that there was no one in the house 
but his wife, Mrs. Phebe Dayton, three small child- 
ren and two servant colored children. About mid- 
night, while they were all asleep, the window in 
the bedroom where Mrs. Dayton was sleeping, was 
burst in at once ; seven armed men rushed in, 
passed through the room, and immediately rushed 
into the chambers, expecting (it is supposed) to 



Newgate of Connecticut 79 

find the men who had left the day before. While 
they were up stairs, Mrs. Dayton went to the front 
part of the house, raised the window, and endea- 
vored to alarm the neighbors. Mr. Hawley, the 
minister of the parish, and Dr. Hooker, the physi- 
cian of the place, both lived within twenty rods dis- 
tance, both had lights in their houses at the time, 
and both heard the alarm, but did not know from 
whence it proceeded. The robbers, hearing Mrs. 
Dayton, came down, and tearing a sheet into strips, 
tied her hands behind her, made her sit in a chair, 
and placed her infant (about six months old) in 
her lap, while one of the robbers, placing the muz- 
zle of his gun near her head, kept her in this posi- 
tion for about two hours, while the house was 
thoroughly ransacked from top to bottom. They 
found about 450 pounds in gold and silver, which 
belonged to Mr. Dayton, besides other valuable 
articles ; what they could not conveniently carry off 
they wantonly destroyed, breaking in pieces all the 
crockery, furniture, &c. The Avhole amount of pro- 
perty carried off and destroyed, including bonds, 
notes, &c., amounted to je5000. The robbers 
left the house about 2 o'clock, and went to a place 
in Middlebury, called Gunn-Toivn, where they 
were secreted in a cellar by a family who were 



80 Newgate of Connecticut 

friendly to the British cause. While they were on 
their way to Gunn-Town, they met a young man 
by the name of Chauncey Judd, of Waterbury, on 
a bridge, who had been to see the young lady he 
afterwards married. Fearing he might discover 
them they took him along with them. In the cel- 
lar kitchen where they were all secreted, there was 
a well. Into this well they talked of putting Mr. 
Judd ; but the old lady of the house begged they 
would not think of it, as it would spoil the water ! 
They stayed in this house a number of days : after- 
wards they went to Oxford, where they were secret- 
ed for several days longer in a barn ; from thence 
they went to Stratford, took a whale boat, and 
crossed over to Long Island. The people at Derby, 
having received information of their passing 
through that place, two whale boats and crews, 
commanded by Capt. William Clarke and Capt. 
James Harvey, pursued them to the Island, and 
were fortunate enough to catch them all but one, 
just within the British lines. They were brought 
back, tried, condemned, and sent to Newgate ; 
they however broke prison, and fled to Nova Scotia. 
Newgate was at this time used by the state for 
the confinement of criminals, and they were kept 
chiefly at work in making wrought nails. It was 



Newgate of Connecticut. 



81 




Newgate Prison. 

not until 1790, that it was established permanently 
as a state prison. It is said to have been the de- 
sign to employ the convicts in working the mines, 
which for a while was practiced, but it was soon 
found that they must necessarily have for that 
work, precisely the right kind of tools for digging 
out, and they several times used them for that 
purpose ; this reason, with the consequent neces- 
sity of keeping so strong a guard, both day and night, 
finally induced them to abandon the emjiloyment. 
In 1760 an act was' passed constituting Newgate 
-aT permanent prison, and providing for the erection 
of the necessary buildings. 

eCt/i'tfi^y /7^C 11 



82 Newgate of Connecticut. 

A wooden palisade, mounted with iron spikes, 
was constructed, inclosing half an acre of ground, 
within which, workshops and other buildings were 
placed, and a deep trench was opened on the 
western side. The wooden enclosure remained 
until 1802, when a strong wall was laid in its 
place, which is now standing. A brick building 
was erected in the centre of the yard for the offi- 
cers and privates, in the rear and lower part of 
which a stone apartment was afterwards con- 
structed directly over the mouth of the cavern, 
and in this room the most quiet prisoners were 
occasionally kept. 

The passage down the shaft into the caverns, is 
upon a ladder fastened upon one side, and resting 
on the bottom. At the foot of this passage com- 
mences a gradual descent for a considerable dis- 
tance, all around being solid massive rock or ore. 
The passages extend many rods in different direc- 
tions, some of them even leading under the cellars 
of the dwellings in the neighborhood. In two of 
the passages are wells of deep water, one of which 
measures eighty feet — they serve for a free circu- 
lation of air to the inmates of this gloomy place, 
and were sometimes used for shafts through which 
to lift the ore, when the business was carried on. 



Newgate of Connecticut. 83 

On the sides and in the niches of the cavern, plat- 
forms were built of boards for the prisoners on 
which straw was placed for their beds. The hor- 
rid gloom of this dungeon can be realized only by 
those who pass among its solitary windings. The 
impenetrable vastness supporting the awful mass 
above, impending as if ready to crush one to 
atoms ; the dripping water trickling like tears 
from its sides; the unearthly echoes responding 
to the voice, all conspire to strike the beholder 
aghast with amazement and horror. These ca- 
verns and their precincts, from their antiquity, 
and the dramas which have been performed within 
and around, will long be considered as a classic 
place. The caverns have generally been extremely 
favorable to the health and longevity of the occu- 
pants, which is supposed to arise from some medi- 
cal quality in the mineral rock. 

It is a curious fact, that many of the connicts 
having previously taken the itch, or other loath- 
some diseases, while confined in the county jails, 
which were very filthy, on being for a few weeks 
kept in the caverns at night, entirely recovered ; and 
it is perhaps still more strange, that those who 
came apparently in health, generally had for a 



84: Neivgate of Connecticut. 

short time cutaneous eruptions, which appeared 
to work out of their blood. 

A writer upon the subject observes : " From the 
" various windings and other causes, it is not cold 
" there, even in the severest weather; and strange 
'' as it may seem, it has been satisfactorily ascer- 
** tained, that the mercury ranged 8 degrees lower 
"in the lodging apartments of the prisoners in the 
" warmest davs of summer, than it does in the 
" coldest in the winter. This phenomenon is 
*' attributed to the circumstance of the cavities in 
" the rocks being stopped with snow, ice and frost 
" in the winter, which prevents so free a circula- 
" tion of air as is enjoyed in the summer. On the 
*' 18th of January, 1811, at eight o'clock A. M., 
" the mercury stood in the cavern at 52 degrees ; 
" and in open air, as soon after as it was practica- 
" ble for a person to get up fsom the cavern (which 
" could not have exceeded five minutes), it fell to 
" one degree below 0." 

Among the accidents which have occurred to 
visitors, was that of Mrs. Christia Griswold of 
Poquonock, while standing at the mouth of the 
shaft leading down into the cavern, accidentally 
stepped off, and fell the whole depth, striking on 



Neivgate of Gonneciicut. 85 

the rocky bottom. The buoyancy of her clothes, 
or some other cause, saved her life, though she 
received injuries from which she never entirely 
recovered. A prisoner afterwards fell at the same 
place, fetters and all, without appearing to injure 
him, it is said, in the least. 

Two years since a party of students were on a 
visit to the mines, when one of their number 
stepped into the shaft, and fell to the bottom, 
receiving injuries which caused his death in a 
few months. The descent upon the ladder is now 
easily accomplished by any one, and the trouble 
is well repaid by the interesting relics below. 
When Newgate was in full blast, it was a very 
popular place of resort for travelers and pleasure 
parties, as from a report of the overseers in 1810, 
it appears that 5,000 persons visited the place an- 
nually. 

By some, this place has been compared to the 
ancient Bastile of France, but the comparison is 
far from being correct, except in the frightful emo- 
tions which this dungeon is calculated to inspire. 
The floors and the roof of the Bastile were made 
of iron plates riveted upon iron bars. The walls 
were of stone and iron several feet in thickness ; 
the whole being surrounded by walls, and a ditch 



86 Newgate of Connecticut. 

25 feet deep. The entrance to each cell was 
through three consecutive doors, secured by dou- 
ble locks. The scanty food, and the silent, una- 
vailing grief, endured by the wretched victims of 
that dreadful abode, often reduced them to entire 
idiocy; besides, they were taken from those death- 
like cells each year, and subjected to the horrible 
torture of the rack, which often dislocated their 
joints or crushed their bones, and all this perhaps 
for merely uttering a sentiment averse to some 
political party in power ! The soldiers and officers 
also of the Bastile, except the governor, were pri- 
soners in everything but in name. When they 
entered the walls of that prison, it was for the 
term of their lives, and a wish expressed even to 
go out, was instant death. Newgate, in every 
respect, would bear no similitude to the Bastile. 
Indeed, the treatment of the prisoners and of the 
guard was often too lenient, although for disobe- 
dience, punishment was sometimes inflicted in 
the severest manner. 

A description of the daily management at New- 
gate will, at this day, be found both interesting 
and amusing. The hatches were opened and the 
prisoners called out of their dungeon each morning 
at daylight, and three were ordered to heave up at 



Newgate of Connedicut 87 

a time ; a guard followed the three to their shops, 
placing them at their work, and chaining those to 
the block whose tempers were thought to require 
it. All were brought out likewise in squads of 
three, and each followed by a guard. To those 
who never saw the operation, their appearance can 
not be truly conceived, as they vaulted forth from 
the dungeon in their blackness, their chains clank- 
ing at every step, an(l their eyes flashing fire upon 
the bystanders. It resembled, perhaps more than 
anything, the belching from the bottomless pit. 
After a while their rations for the day were carried 
to them in their several shops. They consisted for 
one day of one pound of beef or three-fourths of a 
pound of pork, one pound of bread, one bushel of 
potatoes for each fifty rations, and one pint of cider 
to every man. Each one divided his own rations 
for the day to suit himself — some cooked over their 
own mess in a small kettle at their leisure, while 
others, disregarding ceremonies, seized their allow- 
ance and ate it on an anvil or block. The scene 
was really graphic, and might remind one of a 
motley company of foreign emigrants on the deck 
of a canal-boat, during their visit to the far West. 
They were allowed to swap rations, exchange com- 
modities, barter, buy and sell, at their pleasure. 



88 Newgate of Connecticut. 

Some would swap their rations for cider, and often 
would get so tipsy they could not work, and would 
" reel to and fro like a drunken man." OJd Guinea, 
an aged convict, was frequently commissioned by 
them to go abroad and purchase the good creature for 
them, and would often return laden with two or three 
gallons. Sometimes, by taking his pay out of the 
cargo on the road rather freely, his ship would get 
becalmed, when he would cast anchor by the way 
side for the night, making the consignees doubly 
glad upon his safe arrival "in the beautiful morn- 
ing." Lieutenant Viet^s tavern, a few rods from 
the prison, was an especial accommodation, not 
only for travelers, but for the better sort of convicts. 
He who could muster the needful change, would 
prevail on some one of the guard to escort him 
over the way to the inn of the merry old gentleman, 
where his necessities and those of his escort were 
amply supplied at the bar. Many an unfortunate 
fellow, after his release from bondage, has " cast 
" a longing look behind " to the old temple of Bac- 
chus, and appreciated the sentiment of the poet : 

" Of joys departed never to return, 
" How painful the remembrance." 

All were allowed to work for themselves or others 
after their daily tasks were finished, and in that 



Newgate of Connecticut. 89 

way some of them actually laid up considerable 
sums of money. A little cash, or some choice bits 
of food from people in the neighborhood, procured 
many a nice article of cabinet ware, a good basket, 
a gun repaired by the males, or a knit pair of stock- 
ings by the female convicts. The writer, when a 
boy, was often rewarded for a pocket full of fruit 
with miniature ships, boxes, brass rings, bow and 
arrows, and the like ; all being more valuable for 
having been made at Newgate, and all showing the 
particular branch or handicraft to which each had 
been accustomed. During the day th*e guard was 
changed once in two hours, at the sound of the 
horn, and in the night a guard entered the ca- 
verns every two hours and counted the prisoners. 
The punishments inflicted for offenses and neglect 
of duty were severe flogging, confinement in stocks 
in the dungeon, being fed on bread and water 
during the time, double or treble setts of irons, 
hanging by the heels, &:c., all tending to inflame 
their revenge and hatred, and seldom were appeals 
made to their reason or better feelings. From 
thirty to one hundred were placed together through 
the night,^ solitary lodging, as practiced at this day, 
being regarded as a punishment, rather than a 

blessing to them* 

12 



90 Newgate of Connecticut. 

Their employment consisted in making nails, 
barrels, shoes, wagons, doing job-work, farming 
and working on the tread-mill. A building for a 
tread-mill was erected about the year 1824, for 
the purpose of grinding grain for prison use, and 
occasionally for the neighboring inhabitants. A 
large wheel, between twenty and thirty feet long, 
was furnished with horizontal flanges as steps, 
upon which the prisoners trod, and their weight 
causing the wheel to revolve, furnished the motive 
power to propel the machinery. Of all labor re- 
quired of the prisoners, the tread-mill was dreaded 
the most, and the most stubborn were put to this 
employment. In extreme cases, one of the lady 
birds was put on the wheel among the men as a 
punishment, and that was generally sufficient to 
subdue the most refractory in a very short space 
of time."^ 

The following is from KendaWs Travels in the 
Northern Parts of the United States. He visited 
Newgate prison in 1807, and says: 

On being admitted into the gaol yard, I found 
a sentry under arms within the gate, and eight 

* Female convicts were form- passed authorizing their com- 
erly sent to the county jails, mitment to Newgate, 
but a law was afterwards 



Newgate of Connecticut. 91 

soldiers drawn up in a line in front of the gaoler's 
house. A bell summoning the prisoners to work 
had already rung; and in a few moments they 
began to make their appearance. They came 
in irregular numbers, sometimes two or three 
together, and sometimes a single one alone ; but 
whenever one or more were about to cross the 
yard to the smithery, the soldiers were ordered 
to present, in readiness to fire. The prisoners 
were heavily ironed, and secured both by hand- 
cuffs and fetters ; and being therefore unable to 
walk, could only make their way by a sort of 
jump or a hop. On entering the smithery, some 
went to the sides of the forges, where collars, 
dependent by iron chains from the roof, were 
fastened round their necks, and others were 
chained in pairs to wheelbarrows. The number 
of prisoners was about forty ; and when they 
were all disposed of in the manner described, 
sentries were placed within the buildings which 
contained them. After viewing thus far the econo- 
my of this prison, I left it, proposing to visit the 
cells at a later hour. 

This establishment, as I have said, is designed 
to be, from all its arrangements, an object of 
terror; and everything is accordingly contrived 



92 Newgate of Connecticut. 

to make the life endured in it as burdensome 
and miserable as possible. In conformity with 
this idea, the place chosen for the prison is no 
other than the mouth of a forsaken copper mine, 
of which the excavations are employed as cells. 
They are descended by a shaft, which is secured 
by a trap door, within the prison house, or gaoler's 
house, which stands upon the mine. 

The trap door being lifted up, I went down an 
iron ladder, perpendicularly fixed to the depth 
of about fifty feet. From the foot of the ladder 
a rough, narrow, and low passage descends still 
deeper, till it terminates at a well of clear water, 
over which is an air shaft, seventy feet in height, 
and guarded at its mouth, which is within the 
gaol yard, by a hatch of iron. The cells are 
near the well, but at diff*erent depths beneath 
the surface, none perhaps exceeding sixty feet. 
They are small, rugged, and accommodated with 
wooden berths, and some straw. The straw was 
wet, and there was much humidity in every 
part of this obscure region ; but I was assured I 
ought to attribute this only to the remarkable 
wetness of the season; that the cells were in 
general dry, and that they were not found un- 
favorable to the health of the prisoners. 



Newgate of Connecticut 93 

Into these cells the prisoners are dismissed at 
four o'clock in the afternoon, every day without 
exception, and at all seasons of the year. They 
descend in their fetters and handcuffs, and at 
four o'clock in the morning they ascend the iron 
ladder, climbing it as well as they can by the 
aid of their fettered limbs. It is to be observed 
that no women are confined here ; the law pro- 
viding that female convicts, guilty of crimes of 
which men are to be confined in Newgate prison, 
are to be sent only to the county gaols. 

Going again into the workshop or smithery, I 
found the attendants of the prison delivering 
pickled pork for dinner of the prisoners. Pieces 
were given separately to the parties at each forge. 
They were thrown upon the floor, and left to be 
washed and boiled in the water used for cooling 
the iron wrought at the forges. Meat had been 
distributed in like manner for breakfast. The 
food of the prison is regulated for each day in 
the week; and consists in an alternation of pork, 
beef, and peas, with which last no flesh meat 
is allowed. Besides the caverns or excavations 
below, and the gaoler's house above, there are 

other apartments prepared for the prisoners, and 

• 

particularly a hospital, of which the neatness 



94 Newgate of Connecticut. 

and airiness afford a strong contrast to the other 
parts of the prison. It was also satisfactory to 
find that in this hospital there were no sick. 

Such is the seat and the scene of punishment 
provided by Connecticut for criminals not guilty 
of murder, treason, or either of a few other capital 
offences. What judgment the reader will pass 
upon it I do not venture to anticipate ; but for 
myself, I can not get rid of the impression, that 
without any extraordinary cruelty in its actual 
operation, there is something very like cruelty in 
the device and design." 

The following is a relation of some of the 
escapes, and insurrections, which have occurred 
at various periods in Newgate prison, during a 
period of nearly forty years. 

In November, 1794, a convict by the name of 
Newel escaped from the prison by digging out. It 
was the practice at that time to allow the prisoners 
the choice of lodging in the stone cellar under the 
guard-room (generally known by the name of the 
stone jug), or of going from thence down into the 
caverns. During the night a noise below was 
heard by the guard, and some of them went down 
among the prisoners to learn the cause, but could 
^discover nothing out of place. In the morning on 



Newgate of Gonneeticid. 95 

counting them, as was customary, one was dis- 
covered to be missing. It was found that the 
prisoners, in some unaccountable manner, had 
contrived to loosen and pull out one of the large 
cubic stones on the bottom of the cellar. Through 
the aperture thus made, they hauled out the earth, 
pouring it down the shaft, and incredible as it may 
seem, they dug a hole through gravel, earth and 
stones, under the floor and wall large enough for a 
man to crawl out ! It appears that when the 
guard went down among them in the night, the 
prisoners could hear their arrangements for de- 
scending, and instantly replaced the stone and pre- 
vented a discovery of their operations. Neicel^ 
being a very small man, was the only one who 
succeeded in making his escape; he was never 
retaken. 

In the year 1802 the prisoners rose upon the 
guard. The commander. Col. Thomas Sheldon, was 
then sick, and soon after died ; all the officers and 
guard were sick also, except Mr. Dan Forward, a 
private. With occasional assistance of people in 
the neighborhood, the entire charge of the prisoners, 
at that time amounting to between thirty and forty, 
devolved upon him. They had heard that many 
of the officers and privates were sick, and observing 



96 Newgate of Connecticut. 

that one man performed nearly the whole duty 
their suspicions were confirmed, and their plot 
strengthened. It is not certain whether there was 
a fair understanding among them ; if there was, 
their courage most miserably failed. While they 
were passing down into their caverns at the close 
of the day as usual, and when nearly all of them 
were going down the ladder, those who remained 
refused to proceed, and began an attack upon 
Forward, who was standing near. He was a robust, 
stout fellow, over six feet high, and always ready 
for any contest ; and instead of retreating, he re- 
turned their compliments, taking one by the neck 
and another by the heels, and dashing them down 
into the shaft upon the rest, who had now begun 
to come up. The neighbors hearing a scuffle at 
the prison, ran over to his assistance ; but their aid 
was unnecessary, as Forward had vanquished his 
foes and turned their course into the dungeon. It 
is very likely that all could have escaped if Forward 
had betrayed the least sign of fear, or had resorted 
to persuasion. 

At this time a very contagious fever raged at the 
prison, andwsoon began to spread among the con- 
victs. It was without doubt owing to the filth in 
and around the prison, and to the want of care and 



Newgate of Connecticut. 97 

attention to their cleanliness and comfort. The 
disease was so virulent, that in order to arrest its 
progress, a barn was engaged of Capt. Ruswell 
Phelps, into which they were to be removed. 
People in the vicinity were employed to take care 
of the sick and perform the duties of guard ; but 
all the prisoners except three Irishmen being sick, 
it was found impracticable to remove them, and 
after some weeks the disease abated. None of the 
prisoners, however, died, and no other instance of 
a general contagion among them ever occurred. 
In 1806, on the 1st of November, a rebellion 
took place which for its results deserves notice. 
About thirty prisoners in the nail shop had procured 
keys made from the pewter buttons on their clothes, 
and with those keys they were to unlock their fet- 
ters. It was agreed that one of their number 
should strike a shovel across a chimney, and that 
was to be the signal for them all to unlock fetters, 
and commence an attack upon the guard, to wrest 
their weapons from them and use them to the best 
advantage. The signal was given — their fetters 
were unlocked, and two of their number began the 
attack. Aaron Goomer, a negro, and another, seized 
an officer by name of Smith, who not having time 
to draw his sword, struck upon them with scab- 

13 



98 Newgate of Connecticut. 

bard and all, and while the scuffle was going on, a 
guard named Roe, ran to the spot with his musket, 
and levelling it at Goomer, shot him dead on the 
spot. Two balls passed through his head, his hair 
was singed, and his brains scattered around the 
shop. His comrade seeing his fate, returned to his 
post. The courage of the rest "oozed out at their 
"fingers' ends," for not one of them dared to stir 
from their places, although their shackles were 
unfastened. Had a well concerted attack been 
made and sustained by the rebels at this moment, 
they would have commanded the prison in five, 
minutes, and could have put to death every officer 
and private in their quarters. 

Three brothers by the name of Barnes, natives of 
North Haven, were imprisoned together for the 
crime of burglary, in 1S03. These were the most 
active and finest looking men in the prison. They 
were very ingenious and adroit, and would con- 
struct almost any mechanism required of them. 
These were the fellows who planned the insurrec- 
tion before spoken of, and they made the pewter 
keys for unlocking the fetters. They were experi- 
enced in making keys, and could once, it is said, 
open any store in New Haven ; but their ingenuity 
at length brought them to an unfortunate place. 



Newgate of Connecticut. 99 

The fact is surprising that the same three com- 
mitted the same offence again, and were convicted 
and imprisoned again just three years after ! These 
brothers were regarded by the officers as extremely 
dangerous, and for various offences in the prison, 
they were kept bound with two sets of fetters 
during the day, and also chained to the block, be- 
sides being sometimes chained by their necks to a 
beam overhead, and at night they were put into 
the dungeons, and their feet made fast in stocks. 

One of the convicts named Parker, had been 
famous for counterfeiting the character of priest. 
He had been known to have many violent attacks 
of pretended piety, generally appropriating to him- 
self the name and office of an unordained minister, 
a part which he managed with a great deal of 
dexterity, and commonly without suspicion on the 
part of his dear hearers, that he was an imposter. 
His exhortations had been terrible to all stony hearts, 
and where his preaching lacked mental light or 
logic, he always had ready supply of bombast and 
bodily contortions. 

Another game it is said he performed to admira- 
tion. When he could hear of the absence of a long 
lost friend in a family, he would appear and claim 



100 Newgate of Connecticut 

the identical relationship himself, and act all the 
tragedy or romantic pathos of a joyful return. 

In one instance he claimed to be the stray hus- 
band of a disconsolate woman, and was received 
by her with all the attachment supposable at such 
a happy reunion. His real identity was not dis- 
covered until in taking off his shoes, the lady re- 
marked that he possessed more toes than belonged 
to him — her husband having lost one by amputa- 
tion ; he replied with ready adroitness that the lost 
toe had grown out again since his long absence. 
This determined the question as to his identity, 
and he at once received such a summary eject- 
ment, as is best administered by a woman of sen- 
sible spirit. 

How astonishing such adroitness ! to be preacher 
and " steal the livery of Heaven to serve the devil 
in ;" to be brother, son, or husband, and appearing 
more natural, so to speak, in a fictitious garb, 
than in his real character. When his term of 
service expired, and as he was passing out of the 
prison gate, one of the convicts exclaimed, "wo to 
the inhabitants of the earth for the devil has gone 
has gone out among them." 

Prince Mortimer^ a prisoner, lived to a very ad- 



Newgate of Connecticut 101 

vanced age. He died at the prison in Wethers- 
field, in 1834, supposed to be 110 years old; he 
commonly went by the name of Guinea, which 
was probably given to him on account of his native 
country. His complexion did not in the least belie 
his name, for surely he was the personification of 
darkness visible. His life was a tale of misfortunes, 
and his fate won the commiseration of all who 
knew him. He was captured on the coast of 
Guinea by a slaver when a boy; was transported 
in a filthy slave ship to Connecticut, then a slave 
colony, and was sold to one of the Mortimer family 
in Middletown. He was a servant to difierent 
officers in the Revolutionary war ; had been sent 
on errands by General JVasliingion, and said he had 
''straddled many a cannon when fired by the 
Americans at the British troops." For the alleged 
crime of poisoning his master he was doomed to 
Newgate prison in 1811, for life. He appeared a 
harmless, clever old man, and as his age and infirm- 
ities rendered him a burden to the keepers, they fre- 
quently tried to induce him to quit the prison. Once 
he took his departure, and after rambling around in 
search of some one he formerly knew, like the aged 
prisoner released from the Bastile, he returned to 
the gates of the prison, and begged to be readmitted 



102 Newgate of Co?inecticut. 

to his dungeon home, and in prison ended his un- 
happy years ! 

Samuel Smi{h,a\i3LS Samuel Corson, a native of New 
Hampshire, while confined at Newgate for passing 
counterfeit money, wrote an account of his own 
life, which was published in 1826. He stated 
many queer circumstances about himself and the 
various paths of crime which he had followed 
through life. It appears he had been a recruiting 
officer in the service, and was stationed at Platts- 
burg, N. Y. One of his pranks is worthy of being 
recorded in his own words. 

One evening, I, together with a number of non- 
commissioned officers, took a walk down town for 
our amusement, and on our return home, I saw by 
a light through the window of a Mr. I.'s house, 
something laying very carefully rolled up, on a 
table under the window. I also perceived that 
there was no person in the room. I now thinking 
to get something rare and fresh, in order for our 
suppers, lifted up the window, and on putting my 
hand in, felt by its ribs and size, enough to con- 
vince me that it was a good roaster, and I of course 
made it a lawful prize. Putting it under my coat, 
I said nothing about it to my comrades, until our 



Neivgate of Connecticut. 103 

arrival at my quarters, where I invited then to 
accept of some refreshment. After striking a light 
and introducing a good bottle of brandy, I thought 
it the most convenient time to uncover my booty, 
in order to satisfy our craving appetites. At this 
moment, all eyes were gazing at the mysterious 
prize, when lo ! to my utter surprise and astonish- 
ment, it had turned from a roaster to a (dead) colored 
child. You can hardly imagine, dear readers, what 
were my feelings at this critical moment, not only 
from exposition among my fellow officers, nor dis- 
appointment in my intended and contemplated 
supper, but also in the thoughts of robbing some 
unhappy parents of their darling child. I need not 
add, that they had a hearty fit of laughter, at my 
expense, whilst my wits were all to work in order 
to devise some manner of getting out of the hobble, 
and restoring the infant undiscovered, to its proper, 
owners. This I thought best to do, by returning 
it immediately to Mr. I.'s house, and in order to ac- 
complish this, I took it again under my coat and re- 
paired to the main guard, to obtain liberty to return 
to the village. On asking Lieutenant Ellison (who 
was officer of the guard) he discovered something 
white hanging below my coat, and insisted on 
knowing what it was ; when I had of course to 



104 Newgate of Connecticut. 

reveal the whole secret to him ; he also laughed 
heartily and told me to go on. When I returned 
to Mr. I.'s, the house was filled with hoth men and 
women, who, having missed the child, did not 
know what to think of its mysterious flight. I had 
at first thought of leaving it at the door, but fear- 
ing the numerous hogs in the vicinity would de- 
stroy it, I altered my mind, and taking it by the 
heels, threw it into the room among them. At 
this crisis, how must they have felt, to see it re- 
appear amongst them, and feeling at the same 
time, the effects of innumerable particles of glass, 
which flew in all directions over the room. Their 
screams were indescribable — by which, in a few 
moments, not only the house, but the street was 
filled with astonished spectators; all anxious to 
know what was the matter. On my return home, 
I met many repairing to the house, and on some 
of them enquiring what was the matter up the 
street, I told them that I believed there was a 
crazy man in the house of Mr. I. On arriving at 
the barracks all was still, and I heard nothing more 
respecting it for some days. 

A convict, by the name o^ Newman, Avas a noted 
prison breaker. Although he perhaps could not 



Newgate of Connecticut. 105 

boast of unlocking^, scaling, and digging out of so 
many prisons as the famous Stephen Burrows, yet 
his character, as it was written, compared very 
well. He escaped in various ways from several 
prisons in Canada and the United States, but this 
one, he said, "was the hardest and most secure 
"prison he ever entered." However, he contrived 
several plans for escaping ; once he feigned him- 
self to be dead. He Avas accordingly laid out as a 
corpse, and preparations made for his interment ; 
but before finding his carcase firmly under ground, 
he concluded it best to have his resurrection, and 
at length ventured to disclose to his attendants the 
important fact, that he would feel quite as com- 
fortable in his long home, if he could only get the 
breath out of his body and make his heart stop 
beating. He often pretended to have fits, requiring 
medical aid, and what was of more consequence, 
the aid of a little Brandy or Madeira. He pretended 
to raise blood from his lungs whenever he wished 
to draw sympathy from the guard, until it was dis- 
covered that it was a substance made to order by 
chewing pieces ofred brick, or by pricking his gums. 
He would vary his pulse by pounding his elbows 
and other violent means, and thus deceive the 
physician. He said he could reduce his flesh in 

14 



106 Newgate of Connecticut 

ten days by sucking a copper cent in his mouth 
eacli night, and swallowing the saliva, which de- 
stroys the juices of the body, and produces prema- 
ture decay. He was continually apprehensive 
that he would yet be taken back to England, where 
he said he should have to answer for the crime of 
murder, as a thousand pounds reward for his arrest 
stood against him. His chief desire was to avoid 
labor at the nail block, but he was finally cured of 
his tricks with the threat of having the brand of 
Rogue set on his forehead. • 

It was frequently customary for farmers and 
others in the neighborhood to employ the prisoners 
in their fields, being accompanied at such times 
by some of the guard. They also performed a 
great amount of labor in quarrying stone for the 
prison buildings, and other uses. Six of them on 
one occasion were sent out a short distance to 
quarry stone, in charge of one officer and two pri- 
vates. With no fetters, and a fair field before 
them, they perceived the chance a good one for 
escape. Their plan was to get their keepers near 
together, to employ their attention about some 
trifle, and quickly seize their arms. Accordingly 
they persuaded their keepers to peel off' some birch 
bark and make caps for them, and while the cap 



Newgate of Connecticut. 107 

business was going on, and the attenfion of the 
cap makers was occupied in their vocation, their 
weapons were seized in an instant ; the refugees, 
dividing tlie spoils and forming themselves into 
squads, quickly scampered over the hills. The 
forlorn guards retreated to the prison, told their 
sad tale to the captain, and at once received their 
discharge. The prisoners were all retaken; some 
in the western part of the state for stealing; the 
others stole a boat in Connecticut river, and steer- 
ing down the stream leisurely, were captured in 
East Hartford meadows. 

The wit of some of the convicts is well illus- 
trated in an anecdote of one of them, an Irishman 
named Dublin. He was at his work making nails, 
when at one time Maj. Humphrey, who then com- 
manded, came along, and said to him, ^'Dublin, 
your nails are defective ; the heads are not made 
alike." " Ah," said he, " Major, if our heads had 
" all been made alike, faith, I should not have been 
" caught here." Dublin afterwards tried to escape 
by leaping over the paling. He succeeded in get- 
ting upon the top, and in leaping down, one of the 
iron spikes with which the enclosure was mounted, 
caught in his fetters and turned him, as he said, 
" tother endup." For some time he hung sus- 



108 Neivgate of Connecticut. 

pended, head downwards, between heaven and 
earth, seventeen feet high, until at last, after tear- 
ing off his finger ends and nails in his struggles he 
turned himself back sufficiently to disentangle his 
feet, when he fell to the ground, and soon scam- 
pered away among the swamps and bushes. There 
he remained until aroused by the unwelcome calls 
of his stomach, when he ventured out in the night, 
and opening a window in the neighborhood, he 
appropriated to himself a good loaf of bread and a 
cheese, and again hid himself for two days. In 
trying to break his fetters with a stone, he was 
overheard by one of the guard, Michael Holcomb, 
who called to him, " Dublin, what are you doing ?" 
"I am driving the sheep out of my pasture," said 
he. " But Dublin you must come along with me." 
" Faith, Misthur Holcomb, surely this is not me," 
replied Dublin. He was taken to the prison, where 
Holcomb received the reward of $10 which had 
been offered. 

In the spring of 1822, there was a rebellion of a 
very serious nature. In the fall previous, between 
thirty and forty criminals were added to the num- 
ber in prison, and this reinforcement was composed 
of rough and hard characters. This increase was 
in consequence of legislative enactments transfer- 



Neivgate of Connecticut. 109 

ing many from the county jails, which were all 
constructed of wood, and very insecure. The 
terms of sentence were mostly long, which served 
to fire them with desperation. The same fall a 
plot was set on foot by them for an outbreak, but 
it was discovered and defeated. The next spring 
they perfected their plans of operation in a most 
masterly manner. The insurgents comprised the 
whole number in the prison, amounting to more 
than one hundred. Their force was stronger than 
ever before, and the number of guards less, being 
at the time only seventeen. The captain, Tuller, 
was absent through the night, also one sergeant, 
one private, and the cook. The intention of the 
rebels was to rise in all the shops, en masse, at a 
given signal to knock down the officers, take their 
weapons, and get possession of the guard house 
where the arms were kept, and then to take the 
sole command of the works. The signal was given 
in the nail shop by a blow from a shovel, and 
officer Roe was instantly knocked down senseless 
with a bar of iron. They seized his cutlass, and 
then attacked a guard ; but so many being engaged 
upon him at once, pulling diffi^rent ways, that they 
did not succeed in getting his musket. Officer 
Case in the meantime stationed a sentinel at the 



110 Newgate of Connecticut. 

door of the guard-room, with a loaded musket and 
bayonet charged, which being noticed by the 
prisoners in the other shops, prevented their ad- 
vancing to the attack, and seemed to dishearten 
them at once. The bold rebels in the nail shop 
kept up the struggle, and sledges, spikes, and other 
missiles flew in all directions, and confusion and 
uproar reigned throughout. At this critical moment 
officer Griswold arrived at the prison, and proceeded 
directly to the scuffle at the musket. He drew his 
pistol, fired upon and wounded a prisoner. Roe by 
this time had come to his senses ; he arose from the 
ground and shot another, when presently several 
guards presented their cocked muskets, which im- 
mediately quelled the assailants. The general cry 
of the prisoners was now for quarters: " Spare us! 
Don't kill us! — don't kill us!" The captain 
soon after arrived, and bound the ringleaders in 
double irons. 

Ephraim Shaylor, one of the guard, was sent out 
to accompany two prisoners, an Indian and a white 
man, about 1^ miles from the prison, where they 
were employed in reaping. At the close of the 
day, on their return, the prisoners requested per- 
mission to gather some apples and carry them 
home, to which Shaylor consented; he also was 



Newgate of Connecticut 111 

engaged in picking them up, when they sprang 
upon his back, crushed him down, and secured his 
weapons, a cutlass and foAvling piece. One of them 
took a large stone and Avas about to smash out his 
brains, but the other dissented, and they concluded 
it best to take him to a copse of bushes near by and 
there dispatch him. One followed at his back 
holding him by his sword belt with cutlass in hand, 
and the other marched at a respectable distance, 
with musket charged, in true military style, and 
onward they marched towards the fatal spot. Our 
hero now concluded that his final hour had come, 
and thought if he must die, there might be at least 
a choice in the mode ; and considering that a shot in 
the back at such a crisis would be no dishonor, on 
a sudden he slipped the belt over his head and 
made for the prison, while the victors were disput- 
ing between themselves which should take the 
musket and fire upon him. Shaylor reached the 
prison in safety, rallied several others and pursued 
them, but they were not to be found. 

After their victory, it appears that the Indian 
proposed to the white man to break each other's 
fetters, to which the other agreed, and after those 
of the Indian were broken, the crafty liar took 
speedy leave of his comrade without reciprocating 



112 Newgate of Connecticut. 

the favor, thus proving that the old adage in this 
instance, is not true, "there is honor among rogues." 
Tlie white man secreted himself in the mountains 
through the day, and at night went to a black 
smith's shop in Suffield, and with a chisel cut off 
his fetters. Both were afterwards taken for crime 
and recommitted to Newgate, where their condition 
and that of their enemy as victor and vanquished 
was strangely reversed, and Shaylor had an oppor- 
tunity of enjoying his right of laying upon their 
bare backs, a few keen lashes. 

Mr. Shaylor afterwards held a commission in the 
army, was engaged in the battle of Bridgewater, 
and was wounded. He now draws a pension, and 
is a respected citizen of Green Bay, Michigan. 

A thief by name of James Smith, a native of 
Groton, Conn., was imprisoned for horse-stealing, 
in 1822, for the term of six years. He had been a 
great counterfeiter, and circumstances which have 
recently come to light are evidence that he had 
been a barbarous pirate. The piratical crew had 
sailed in a French vessel, and after obtaining 
much plunder, fearing to enter any port without 
regular papers, they sunk their vessel on the coast 
of North Carolina, carried their specie in three 
boats and buried it all, except one large trunk full, 



Neivgate of Connecticut. 113 

on the beach in Currituck county. In corrobora- 
tion of the above it appears that while he was a 
prisoner in Newgate, he offered David Foster^ a 
guard, $200 if he would assist him to escape, 
telling him he had a great quantity of specie buried 
on the coast of North Carolina. Foster refused, 
but promised to say nothing about it. This he 
testified in court when afterwards called upon as 
a witness. Smith in a few months afterwards 
escaped from prison, and as was supposed, by 
bribery. The following respecting him is related 
by Mr. Benjamin Taylor, a planter now living in 
North Carolina. Smith and seven or eight others 
came to his house in the year 1822, and hired of 
him a room ; they employed him with four of his 
slaves to cross Currituck sound, and obtained a 
large trunk, very heavy, and returned to his house, 
where they all remained about one week. While 
there he saw them divide a large sum of specie 
among themselves, and Smith, appearing to be at 
their head, took the largest sum. They were ar- 
rested on suspicion of being robbers, but for want 
of sufficient evidence discharged. They all then 
left for Norfolk, Va., except Smith, who remained 
several weeks. During this time he often appeared 
to be deranged, would talk to himself, and told 

15 



114: Neivgate of Connecticut. 

the servants that he "had made many a man walk 
" the plank overboard." He then went to the north, 
and was imprisoned at Newgate for stealing a 
horse. After his escape from prison as above 
stated, he returned to the house of Mr. Taylor 
and staid about one week. While there he em- 
ployed several men in digging on the beach. 
Their search was fruitless, for the storms and 
waves had dashed upon the beach too long, and it 
is supposed swept the treasures into the ocean. 
He then went away to some place unknown to 
Mr. Taylor. It now appears from the prison re- 
cords, that he came to Connecticut, where he was 
taken and again sentenced for twenty-three years 
on four indictments for horse-stealing. His last 
home on earth was in prison, and there he died in 
1836. 

The last tragedy developed at Newgate, took 
place on the night previous to the removal to 
AVethersfield. Abel JS. Starkey, an ingenious cri- 
minal, was the victim. He was a native of Rox- 
bury, Mass., was committed in 1824 for twenty 
years, for the crime of making counterfeit money. 
By his ingenuity and industry at the prison he 
had amassed $100 in cash. On the night of Sep- 
tember 28th, 1827, being the day previous to the 



Newgate of Connecticut. 115 

removal of the prisoners to Wethersfield, he re- 
quested permission to lodge in the dungeon, which 
was granted to him. From some cause which 
has never been explained, the hatch which covered 
one of the wells communicating with the cavern, 
was unfastened. During the night he laid hold 
of the well rope and ascended upon it part of the 
way up, when it broke and precipitated him into 
the water, and a bucket fell upon his head ; the 
noise was heard above, and he was found dead. 
His feet were tied together with a handkerchief 
for the purpose, as is supposed, of assisting him in 
climbing the rope. Only $50 were found in his 
possession ; the balance was probably the price 
paid for unfastening the hatch. 

It would seem that Newgate prison, in the 
course of its duration, had contained all which 
was various in character, determined in crime, 
and deep in degradation. It compassed all ages 
from boyhood to extreme old age; both sexes, 
colors, and different occupations; students from 
college, and others unable to read or write. 
Those skilled in phrenology might have had a rich 
treat in exploring the bumps on some of those 
hard heads, and the solving of their characteristics 



116 Newgate of Connecticut. 

would have afforded amusement and perhaps in- 
struction. 

Seriously, it is difficult to account for the way- 
ward inclination of some of them, especially those 
who were imprisoned a number of times and for 
the same kind of offence each term, unless it can 
be accounted for on phrenological principles. It 
may be said to indicate only a depraved heart, but 
a depraved heart must have a strange kind of 
head to run repeatedly into the same crime and 
get back to the same prison. But I leave it to 
those who understand the science to defend the 
ground, presuming that the truth of their cause 
will insure them a triumphant issue. 

When the number and difference of characters 
kept in that prison is considered, and the treat- 
ment which they received is appreciated, it will 
at once be seen how unavailing the system must 
have been for their security or their reformation. 
The custom of fastening their feet to bars of iron 
to which chains were attached from their necks, 
chaining them to the block, and likewise to a 
beam above, while at their work, scourging their 
bodies like beasts, &c., taught them to look upon 
themselves in a measure as they were looked upon 
by others, objects of dread, and possessing cha- 



Newgate of Connecticut. 117 

racters more like fiends than men. With such 
treatment, reformation must have been, and was, 
entirely out of the question. The system was 
very well suited to turn men into devils, but it 
could never transform devils into men. Instead 
of putting them in cells separately at night, where 
they might have opportunity for reflection, they 
were suffered to congregate together, good and 
bad, young and old, to brew mischief, and to teach 
new vices to those unpractised. Their midnight 
revels, as may be supposed, were often like the 
howling in a pandemonium of tigers, banishing 
sleep and forbidding rest. 

It is not desired that these remarks, however, 
should be so construed as to impute blame to the 
officers or guard of the prison. Far from it. Although 
they were many times in fault, still as the prison 
was constructed, and in the way that service was 
required of them, it was impossible to preserve 
that degree of order and discipline so essential to 
success. They had no approved system of prison 
discipline to study, no correct views of punishment 
connected with reformation were at tliat day 
generally known, and but few branches of business 
were thought of, which would yield a fair compen- 
sation and save the State from cost. 



118 Neivgate of Connecticut, 

The insecurity of Newgate prison, and the con- 
stant burthen upon the treasury of the state for its 
support, excited a very strong discussion in the 
public prints, and in the legislature, for several 
years. The subject of a new prison on a more 
modern plan, and the abandonment of the old one 
raised a powerful party in its support. Among the 
foremost in this enterprise was Martin Welles^ Esq., 
who labored zealously for its accomplishment. 
The proposition was opposed by others living in 
the vicinity of Newgate, among whom was Maj. 
Orson P. Phelps^ an enterprising contractor, who had 
furnished the prison with beef, and other neces- 
saries. The Major indulged his ready poetic wit, 
on one occasion, by the following sentiment : 

" O'er the dark side on Copper bill, 

" Martin Welles has stopped their treading mill. 

'"Tis ten to one if he don't miss it, 

" For Doctor Buck can't deal out physic." 

He was well answered by the author of another 
couplet : 

" Say what you will, old Newgate helps 
" The beef contractor. Major Phelps." 

The following song was composed by Dr. 
Eliphalet Buck^ and sung on the occasion of com- 



Newgate of Connecticut. 119 

pleting the walls of Newgale Prison in 1802. Dr. 
Buck was for many years the established physician 
for Newgate, and was a complete embodiment of 
fun as well as physic, but had not made the art of 
poetry a study, evidently: 

Attend, all ye villains, that live in the state, 
Consider the walls that encircle Newgate, 
* Your place of abode, if justice were done. 
The assembly in wisdom, when they did behold 
The first wooden pickets, grown ruined and old, 
They granted a sum to the wise overseers, 
Which, amply sufficient to make the repairs. 
And they did decide to repair with hewn stone. 

In the year one thousand eight hundred and two, 

A party collected, to split and to hew. 
Their names in my song, shall last with the wall; 
First, Lieutenant Barber the job undertakes; 
Beneath his strong labor, old Copper hill shakes. 
With his workmen in order, the stone for to square, 
And others strong burdens with cheerfulness bear, 

While each one delights to attend to his call. 

The next in the column is sage Pettibone, 
Whose skill in the work is exceeded by none. 

To handle the gavel, or poise the great maul; 
With him senior Jared an equal part bears, 
And in the hard labor he equally shares: 
While Gillett, and Holcomb, and Cosset appear, 
And Hillyer, all anxious the fabric to rear, 

To lay the foundation — to strengthen the Wall. 



120 Newgate of Connecticut, 

Bold Harrington, Goddard, and Lieutenant Reed, 
Each lend their assistance the work to proceed. 

Perhaps there are others, whose names I don't call, 
With hammers, and chizzels, and crow-bars, and gads, 
And Wanrax, with other poor prisoner lads, 
To hand up the mortar, or carry the hod; 
Which may, to some strangers appear very odd. 
To think the poor culprits help build their own Wall. 

November the tenth, for the good of the state. 
They finished the wall and completed the gate. 

Which for numerous years may swing and not fall. 
Then each one returns to his sweetheart or wife, 
With plenty of cash to support them in life; 
With joy and with gladness for what they had done. 
In hewing and squaring, and laying the stone, 
Not wholly unmindful of building the Wall. 

Now here's to the landlord, before that we go. 
We wish him success, and his lady also, 

For their kind assistance to great and to small, 
For the benefit had from his plentiful bar, 
And the free intercourse which produces no jar; 
To him and his neighbors, and every good man, 
Who always we've wanted to lend us a hand 

To drive on the work, and finish the Wall. 

Now last, to the prisoners, we make this remark. 
Who are left to the keeping of Commodore Clark ? 

It may be of service, to one and to all. 
Repine not too much, though your lot may seem hard, 
You've a judicious keeper, and well disposed guard ; 
If you behave well you have nothing to dread — 
You've beef, pork, and sauce, and a plenty of bread. 

So behave well, and get the outside of the Wall. 



Newgate of Connecticut. 



121 



Some of the prisoners were made to assist in 
building the wall, and it appears that they were 
permitted to participate in the jollification after it 
was completed. An Irish prisoner, named Patrick^ 
offered upon the occasion the following toast : 

" Here's to Lieut. Barbefs great wall — May it be 
"like the walls of Jericho, and tumble down at the 
" sound of a ram's horn.'' 

The toast given by Dublin was equally sarcastic, 
viz : 

" Here's health to the Captain and all the rest 
" of the prisoners." 




16 



122 Newgate of Connecticut 



CONNECTICUT STATE PRISON. 



The present Penitentiary of Connecticut is situ- 
ated on the margin of a beautiful cove in the 
town of Wethersfield, about three miles from 
Hartford, and is regarded as a penitentiary of 
the first order. Its location, its construction, its 
financial management and discipline, have won 
the admiration of every state in the Union. It has 
proved to the world that criminal punishment can 
be made a safeguard to society, a protection to the 
honest industry of the people, and also a benefit 
to the moral and physical condition of the con- 
victs. The prison limits comprise about one and 
a half acres of ground, which is enclosed by a wall 
of hard sand stone, 18 feet high, 3 feet thick at its 
base, and inclining to 1 | feet at the top. Within 
and adjoining this wall, are buildings of the same 
material, and of brick, used as the warden's 
apartment, hospital and chapel, and for work- 
shops and cells. In the yard is a cistern under 
ground for water, of the capacity of 100 hogs- 
heads, and a fire engine is attached to the premi- 



Newgate of Connecticut. 123 

ses. A steam engine of forty horse power is con- 
nected with the shops for propelling machinery, 
necessary to carry on the various branches of 
business. A portion of the cell building is white- 
washed with lime each day, which purifies the air, 
and gives to the lodging apartments an appearance 
of neatness. Each convict enjoys that blessing of 
punishment, a separate cell at night, and no one is al - 
lowed during the day to look at any visitor, or to 
catch the eye of his fellow, but all are intent upon 
the business before them. A library of suitable 
books, comprising 1500 volumes, is provided for 
such as can read, and those who can not are in- 
structed by the chaplain, who is assisted in his 
good work occasionally by the warden and other 
officers. The library is highly prized by the con- 
victs, who spend many of their solitary hours m 
reading, and the benefits have been so apparent, 
that the state has generously appropriated annu- 
ally $100 for the purchase of books for their use. 
Male convicts are employed at present in the 
manufacture of mechanics' lools, boot and shoe 
making, and burnishing. The females are under 
the charge of a matron, and are employed in making 
and mending clothes, washing, cooking, &c. The 
services of the male convicts are let by the war- 



124 Newgate of Connecticut. 

den to companies or contractors, who pay monthly 
a stipulated piuce per day for the services of each 
prisoner, and no able bodied person is exempt 
from labor. This system has been found to work 
well, pecuniarily, and the average net profits to 
the state, above the current expenses, officers' sala- 
ries, &c., amount to about $2000 per annum. 
This is believed to be the only state prison in the 
Union which meets its entire expenses and leaves 
a surplus to the state. 

It is interesting to observe how much depends 
in the success of a prison, upon skill and disci- 
pline in its management. For seventeen years 
previous to the removal of the prison in 1827, the 
annual tax upon the state treasury for the support 
of Newgate was over $7000. The present institu- 
tion has paid for all its buildings and fixtures, and 
seventeen acres of land. It has paid |7000 to the 
counties of the state, for the erection of county 
jails on the improved penitentiary system, and 
$7000 1o the school districts in the state for school 
apparatus, thus causing ignorance and crime to 
help educate the rising generation. It has pre- 
sented to the Boston prison discipline society 
$1000, by order of the legislature, besides a sur- 
plus to a large amount for the state treasury. 



Newgate of Connecticut. 125 

No convict has ever escaped from this prison. 
Its safe construction and the active vigilance of its 
officers, would seem to banish all hopes of escape, 
and render every attempt w^orse than useless. 
Strict order and discipline are apparent in every 
department, and yet without any vain show of 
power. No bars or fetters are worn; no armed 
sentinel is seen, except upon the two towers ; no 
muskets, swords, or pistols, are carried daily within 
the walls, and only within the guard room are any 
weapons of murder to be seen. 

The first warden of this prison was Moses C. 
Pilshury* a former warden of the New Hampshire 

* Moses C. Pilsbury was a thirty and forty miles on foot, 
native of Newbury, Mass. he arrived at Xewburyport, 
He was emphatically a self- where he engaged to work for 
made man, and his life aifords a month at haying. For this 
a striking instance of the he received eight dollars, to 
power of perseverance. Taken which, by working nights, he 
from school in his tenth year, added two dollars more. At 
he worked with his father, the end of the month, thcre- 
who was a blacksmith, and fore, be was in possession of 
on the farm, until he was ten silver dollars; and this 
twenty-one. On that day he was the capital of the man, 
left home with but one copper who subsequently acquired a 
in his pocket, but with a heart good education and a hand- 
full of hope and a strong de- some property; who faithfully 
termination to conquer every served his country as an officer 
obstacle. Traveling between in the last war with England, 



126 Newgate of Connecticut 

prison, and to his skill and experience much was 
due in connection with the Boston prison disci- 
pline society, in the first arrangement of the insti- 
tution. He continued in that capacity about three 
years, and was succeeded by his son, Amos Pils- 
bury* who for about seventeen years (except a 
short interval) remained as the warden, and he 
continued and perfected the admirable system of 
discipline so well begun. It is not in a pecuniary 
respect only that the Connecticut prison has been 
successful. It has, in a majority of cases, im- 
proved the moral and intellectual condition of its 
inmates, where any improvement of the debased 

and who, since that time until " head of improvements in our 

his death, was eng^aged in " prisons, at least in the New 

public business, discharging " England states." He died at 

all his duties with accuracy Derry, New Hampshire, in 

and fidelity. He was the first June, 1848, aged seventy 

warden of a prison who caused years, 
the prisoners to earn more 

than their own support; and, * Amos Pilshury, so cele- 

to his honor be it said, he was brated as a prison-keeper and 

the first prison-keeper who in- successful manager of con- 

troduced the practice of read- victs, was the son of Moses C. 

ing the Bible daily to the pri- Pilsbury, and was born at 

soners assembled. In the Londonderry, New Hampshire, 

language of a celebrated writ- February 8, 1805. He attend- 

er on prison discipline, "Mr. ed school and worked, on the 

" Pilsbury was the founder and farm until his thirteenth year, 



Newgate of GonnecticiU. 



127 



heart was possible. It has inaugurated a system 
of discipline the most complete and perfect which 
has ever been known, or adopted, and it is now 
universally acknowledged as a model penitentiary. 
Many improvements in buildings, and machinery, 



when his father, having been 
appointed warden of the New 
Hampshire state prison, re- 
moved with his family to Con- 
cord, in that state. At four- 
teen years of age, he was 
apprenticed to the tanning and 
currying business, in a neigh- 
boring town, and served a 
regular apprenticeship of four 
years, remaining with his em- 
ployer until the failure of the 
concern. In April, 1824, he 
accepted the ofifer of his father 
to become a watchman or 
guard of the prison, of which 
the latter was warden, and 
here conmienced his career in 
the management and govern- 
ment of prisons, for which he 
is so justly celebrated, and 
which has continued to be the 
. chosen business of his life. At 
this time he was but nineteen 
years of age. Having per- 
formed the duty of guard for 



about one year, he was next, 
with the approbation of the go- 
vernor and council, who were 
inspectors of the prison, ap- 
pointed deputy warden. On the 
resignation of his father in 
June, 1826, Mr. Pilsbury, at 
the request of the governor 
and council, remained with his 
successor until the December 
following. In November, 1826, 
Mr. Pilsbury was married to 
Miss Emily Heath, and con- 
tinued to reside in Concord 
and its vicinity until the sum- 
mer of the next year, at wliich 
time his father and himself 
were solicited to take charge 
of the new state prison then 
erecting at Wethersfield. In 
July, 1827, he commenced as 
deputy under his father as 
principal warden of that insti- 
tution. The younger Mr. Pils- 
bury removed the prisoners 
from the old, or Newgate pri- 



128 



Newgate of Connecticut. 



have recently been made under the supervision of 
the present efficient warden, Daniel Webster, Esq., 
who has kindly 'furnished statistical information 
of the present state of the prison. 

The whole number of commitments to this 



son, to the new establishment, 
which was completed in the 
fall of that year. Moses C. 
Pilshury continued warden of 
this prison until April, 1830, 
when his son was appointed to 
fill his place. Gov. Peters, in 
his message to the legislature, 
May, 1832, says: " The friends 
' of the penitentiary system, 
' have great reason to rejoice 
' at the flattering results of 
' the Connecticut state prison 
' during the past year. After 
' paying every expense in- 
' curred for the support and 
' management of the establish- 
' ment, there remains a balance 
' in favor of the institution of 
'$8,713.53." A personal diffi- 
culty, which had occurred soon 
after his appointment, with 
one of the directors, and which 
had been very annoying and 
unpleasant to Mr. Pilshury, re- 
sulted in his removal from 



office in September, 1832. A 
thorough investigation was, at 
his own request, immediately 
instituted into the affairs of 
the prison and its manage- 
ment, by a committee appoint- 
ed by the legislature of the 
state. The committee made a 
report to the legislature at 
their next session; and Mi*. 
Pilsbury was not only reap- 
pointed, but a resolution was 
passed directing the treasurer 
of the state to pay to him the 
expenses he had incurred in 
defending himself against the 
charges of his opponents, and 
four hundred dollars in addi- 
tion thereto, for his own time. 
He was reappointed in June, 
1837, having been absent just 
nine months. The condition 
of the prison during his ab- 
sence, and at the time of his 
return, may be gathered from 
the report of the directors, 



Netvgate of Connecticut. 



129 



prison, including 81 from Newgate, is 1733. The 
whole number in confinement, April 1st, 1859, 
203. 



May, 1834. During Mr. Pils- 
buryh absence one of the keep- 
ers had been murdered by two 
of the prisoners, for which they 
were afterwards tried and exe- 
cuted. From that time to 
January, 1845, nearly twelve 
years, Mr. Pilshury remained 
as warden, uninterrupted by 
the political changes that fre- 
quently took place, notwith- 
standing that he was during 
the whole of that time sur- 
rounded by politicians who 
manifested great hostility to- 
wards him. 

Mr. Pilsbury having made 
the Wethersfield prison supe- 
rior to any similar establish- 
ment in the country, next 
turned his attention to the im- 
provement of the county jails. 
He encouraged the building of 
new prisons in each of the 
counties of the state, and 
through his recommendations, 
the legislature authorized him 
to pay from the surplus earn- 
ings of the state prison, one 

17 



thousand dollars to such coun- 
ties in the state as should 
build a jail on the plan of the 
new prison at Hartford; and 
he soon had the satisfaction of 
knowing that Connecticut pos- 
sessed, not only the model 
STATE PRISON, but the best coun- 
ty jails in the country. 

We afterwards find Mr. 
Pilsbury engaged in improving 
the condition of the insane 
poor, especially that of the in- 
sane prisoners under his care. 
In a communication to the di- 
rectors in 1841, he suggested 
that the surplus earnings of 
the state prison should be em- 
ployed in erecting and support- 
ing an establishment for crimi- 
nal and pauper lunatics. This 
was sent to the legislature and 
referred to a joint committee; 
from the able report of which 
is the following extract: " If 
" the state should adopt the 
" humane suggestion of our re- 
" spected warden of the state 
" prison, whiclj, l^as been refer- 



130 



Newgate of Connecticut. 



The places of their nativity are as follows : 



Connecticut 96 

Massachusetts 10 

Rhode Island , 9 

New Hampshire 1 

Vermont 1 

New York 33 

New Jersey 2 

Maryland 2 

Pennsylvania 3 



Delaware, Tennessee, Ohio and 

Texas, 1 each 4 

England 4 

Ireland 26 

France 4 

Germany 7 

Island St. Jago 1 

203 



" red to your committee, and 
" which does honor to his head 
" and his heart, the additional 
" sum which would be required 
" to sustain the institution 
" hereafter, would be compara- 
" tively small indeed." 

A desperate fellow by the 
name of Scott alias Teller, was 
sent to Wethersfield, for fifteen 
years; he had previously been 
confined in Sing Sing and other 
prisons. He was determined 
not to work or submit to any 
rules. Of course Capt. Pils- 
hory treated him accordingly. 
He very soon cut one of his 
hands nearly off, on purpose 
to avoid labor; but his wound 
was immediately attended to, 
and in less than one hour 
afterwards, he found himself 
turning a large crank with one 



hand; it was then that he de- 
clared he would murder the 
warden on the very first oppor- 
tunity. Soon after this, the 
regular barber of the prison 
being sick, and Scott who had, 
it was said, when young, work- 
ed at that trade, was directed 
by the deputy warden to take 
the place of the barber, and 
shave the prisoners throughout 
the establishment. Mr. Pilsbury 
on going into the shop soon 
afterwards, was told by one of 
the assistants, that the prison- 
ers did not like to be shaved 
by this man, he had behaved 
very bad since he had been an 
inmate, and they were afraid 
of him. Mr. Pilsbury immedi- 
diately took the chair and di- 
rected Scott to shave him. 
From that moment he became 



Newgate of Connecticut. 131 

Ages of the convicts at the time of their con- 
viction : 

Over 15 and less than 20 there were 31 

<i 20 " " 25 " " ^5 

.. 25 " " 30 " " 46 

.1 30 «' " 35 " " 21 

.« 35 " " 40 " " 1^ 

« 40 «« " 45 " " 12 

.< 45 " " 50 " " 8 

i< 50 '« " 55 " " "^ 

«< 55 «* " 60 " " ^ 

203 



one of the best behaved con- 
victs in the prison, and remain- 
ed so until Mr. Filsbury left it, 
in November, 1832. Soon after 
the appointment of a new 
warden, Scott tried to escape, 
and murdered one of the keep- 
ers. For this crime he was 
hung at Hartford, in 1833. 
The late Hon. Roger M. Sher- 
man, in a report which has 
been published, speaking of 
the Connecticut state prison, 
makes the following remarks: 
" Instead of being a charge on 
" the treasury, it is a source of 
" revenue. In ten years the net 
" earnings, above all expenses, 
" have been sufficient to pay 
" every expense of its erection, sup- 



" port and management, and 
" leave a surplus on hand of 
"over $10,000. The state, 
" however, is greatly indebted 
" to the Messrs. Pilsbury for 
" their superior skill in cou- 
" ducting the institution. By 
"one who was coapetent to 
"judge, and had made exten- 
" sive inquiry in this country 
"and in Europe, they have 
" been pronounced the best 
" prison keepers in the world." 
From 1810 to 1821 (seven- 
teen years), the money drawn 
from the state treasury for the 
expenses attending the sup- 
port of the old Newgate pri- 
son, over and above its earn- 
ings, had been upwards of one 



132 



Newgate of Connecticut. 



Crimes for which the prisoners were sentenced : 



Murder 

Murder, 2d degree 

Attempt at murder 

Manslaughter 

Assault witk intent to kill 

Rape 

Attempt at rape 

Arson 

Incest 

Adultery 

Perjury, with intent to take life. . 

Forgery 

Robbing U. S. Mail 

Counterfeiting 3 cent pieces 

Passing counterfeit money 

Abusing female child 

Assault with intent to rob 

Abandoning child 

Attempt at rape and stealing. . . . 
Attempt to burn court house .... 



4 Burglary and horse stealing 2 

7 Burglary 63 

2 Burglary and theft 3 

5 Theft 28 

5 Bigamy 1 

4 Bestiality 2 

3 Felony 1 

2 Attempt to poison 1 

3 Perjury 2 

2 Burning barn 3 

1 Burning factory 2 

5 Stealing from person 2 

3 Obstructing railway 3 

1 Forging pension papers 1 

5 Forging land warrants 2 

1 Horse stealing 7 

2 High crimes and misdemeanors. . 1 

1 Stealing horse and wagon 1 

1 Burglary and breaking jail 4 

1 Miscellaneous crimes 16 



hundred and twenty-five thousand 
dollars. J^om a report made 
to the legislature of Connecti- 
cut, in May, 1844, by the di- 
rectors of the state prison, it 
appeared, that in the seventeen 
years it had been in operation 
(during three of which it was 
under the government of his 
father), the income or profits 
thereof, after defraying every 
expense for the support and 
management of the convicts, 
amounted in the aggregate to 



the enormous sum of ninety- 
three thousand dollars. After 
having directed its concerns 
and been connected with its 
management nearly eighteen 
years, Mr. Pilshury left the 
Wethersfield prison on the first 
day of January, 1845. For 
financial prosperity and every 
other excellence, it had not at 
that time its equal in America. 
Mr. Pilshury then moved to 
Albany, on the invitation of 
the commissioners appointed by 



Neivgate of Connecticut. 133 

One convict is in the prison for the fourth time, 
and one year intervenes between each sentence, 
and each term has been for two years. The aver- 
age number of XJ. S. criminals here is 8 ; average 
number of female convicts, 11; average number 
of the whole, 21D ; the average length of all the 
sentences, 4 years and 2 months. About 20 are 
sentenced for forgeries, averaging in amounts 
about $100 each, and it may be remarked that 
here, as elsewhere, forgers for large amounts — • 
upper-crust forgers for thousands, are very apt to 
escape the meshes of the law and go unwhipped of 
justice. 

In all prisons and penitentiaries, there are 
criminals possessing some strange and unaccounta- 

the legislature of the state of of the Albany institution al- 

New York to construct a peni- though serving at the same 

tentiarj. He engaged with time as General Superintend- 

them in that enterprise, and ent of the Metropolitan Police 

when the buildings there were in the city of New York, a 

so far completed as to allow most arduous and responsible 

the confinement of prisoners position. As such he intro- 

therein, was, without solicita- duced important reforms; but 

tion on his part, unanimously soon resigned the oflSce, to 

appointed by the city and avoid the annoyance of poli- 

county authorities its supcrin- ticians, having shown his ca- 

tendent for three years, with pability of putting the police 

almost unlimited powers. Mr. of that great metropolis in an 

Pilsbury is still at the head eflBcient and honorable position. 



134 Neivgate of Connecticut. 

ble characteristics; but whatever their propensi- 
ties, they are generally influenced by one motive, 
which is common to all of them, and that is a 
desire to escape from confinement. But the Con- 
necticut penitentiary has furnished one singular 
exception to this general rule, or rather the rule 
has been transposed in one singular case. A 
young female was committed in 1853 for the 
term of four years, for the crime of horse steal- 
ing. She served out her term, was duly dis- 
charged, and presented with her former arti- 
cles of clothing, &c.; and with the present usu- 
ally given to all at their departure, of two dollars 
in money. She soon obtained employment at 
housework in the neighborhood, and for a while 
appeared to behave herself well ; but at length her 
former habit of thieving predominated, and some 
of her pilfering was detected by the family. Abby 
Jane (for that is her name) took her leave, but soon 
privately returned, and stealing a horse blanket 
from Genl. Welles, she ensconced herself under 
his barn floor, which she appropriated as her lodg- 
ing apartment, with the stolen blanket for her 
coverlid. Here she lived for several days, subsist- 
ing upon whatever plunder she could get, and by 
milking the cows in the neighborhood in the 



Newgate of Connecticut. 135 

night, retreating each day to her kennel under the 
barn. But the remembrance of prison life had 
such fascinating charms, that she contrived a 
plan to scale the walls, and get into the prison, by 
climbing a tree which stood near. She leaped 
down from the top of the wall into the yard of the 
female apartment, and secreted herself among the 
rubbish in the wood-pile. Her female cronies, sur- 
prised and gratified to enjoy again the company of 
their cunning visitor, clandestinely supplied her 
with food, whenever they found opportunity. In 
this manner she lived four or five days, thieving 
whenever she could, and finally took up her lodg- 
ing in an old ash-hole, or oven. The matron had 
missed provisions and other articles, and was puz- 
zled to account for the loss. A genera] search was 
made, when the warden, on removing some pieces 
of refuse stove pipe under the oven, discovered the 
once fair face of Abby, peering through the sooty 
canopy, and she was again in the clutches of the 
law. No one, however, seemed willing to indict 
her for the novel crime of breaking into a prison, 
and she was sentenced for theft to the county jail 
for one year. There she served out her time and 
was released, but soon after she broke into a dwell- 
ing, and appropriated to herself a pair of panta- 



136 Newgate of Connecticut 

loons, containing in the pockets $500, besides other 
articles, for which she is now in jail awaiting her 
trial, and will probably soon be an inmate at her 
old quarters, the prison. 

A life convict, John Brown, alias George DeWolf^ 
is imprisoned for the murder of a woman in Cov- 
entry, Ct. The woman was found near the house, 
cut and mangled in a most horrid manner, and for 
a long time no trace could be found of the mur- 
derer. At length suspicion began to be entertained 
that some member of the family had committed 
the deed. The husband of the murdered woman 
felt the imputed suspicion so keenly, that his anx- 
iety of mind induced him to furnish his sons with 
means to travel in various directions, and in every 
possible way to ferret out the murderer. After a 
patient search for many months, they found in 
Tolland county jail this man, who had formerly 
lived in the family. The evidence of his guilt 
was very conclusive, but the common plea of insa- 
nity divided the jurors in their verdict of murder in 
the first degree, and in the second degree he was 
sentenced for life. During his trial officers from 
New York appeared with a requisition for him on 
a charge of murdering his wife in that state, and 
public opinion, sustained by evidence, brands him 



Newgaie of Connectimt. 137 

as a blood thirsty wretch. Since his confinement, 
he at first feigned insanity, but a few thorough 
trimmings by the oflacers, eflfectually cured him of 
his tricks, and he now readily performs his alloted 
tasks. 

Daily Routine of Duty performed at the Con- 
necticut State Prison by its Officers. 

At daylight the bell is rung for the officers, who 
immediately repair to the guard-room. When it 
is sufficiently light, the deputy warden gives the 
signal for manning the walls, and the overseers 
take their keys, go to their several divisions, and 
again wait the signal, when they unlock, and 
march their men, with the lock step, to their re- 
spective shops. The convicts immediately com- 
mence work, and also begin at a given point in the 
shop to wash, which each man does in regular 
order before the breakfast hour. 

At 7 o'clock the bell is rung for breakfast, the 
convicts stop work, form into a line in their shops, 
and wait the signal of the bell, when they are 
marched into the prison yard, and form a line in 
front of their buckets. At the word right, each 
man turns to the right ; the word up is given, and 
each man takes his bucket upon his left arm, when 

18 



138 Newgate of Connecticut. 

they form into sections in close order, as marched 
from the shops; and at the word forward, they 
march in the same manner to the hall, where they 
are seated to hear the reading of the Bible and at- 
tend prayers. From thence they are marched 
around the cells, take their kids containing their 
breakfast as they pass the kitchen, and are im- 
mediately locked up. Each officer then reports 
the number of men in his charge to the deputy 
warden, who, finding it right, gives the signal of 
All's well; the watchmen leave the wall and repair 
to the guard-room ; all the officers then go to their 
meal, except one in the hall, and one in the guard- 
room, who are relieved in turn. 

From half to three quarters of an hour is allowed, 
when they are again, as above, marched to their 
work, and there remain till twelve o'clock; the 
signal is again given, they are again marched upon 
a line, and in the same manner marched into and 
around the hall, the same as at breakfast with the 
exception of service. Time allowed for dinner, one 
hour in summer, and forty-five minutes in winter. 
At one o'clock they are again marched to their 
shops, and work till six p. m., when they again form 
a line in front of their buckets ; the word is given, 
" one pace in the rear, march," each convict steps 



Newgate of Connecticut. 139 

one pace back; the officer having charge of each 
division commences searching, by passing his 
hands over the arms, body, and legs of the prison- 
er, and as each man is searched he steps to tlie 
front. When all are again in a line, the word is 
given to uncover, and each convict takes the cover 
from his night bucket; the officers pass and examine 
them ; the words, cover — right — up — forward ; 
and they march to the hall, attend prayers, and to 
their cells, as in the morning. The officer then in 
the hall lights up, examines each lock and door, 
recounts the convicts, and reports the number to 
the warden or deputy warden. At half past seven 
the signal is given, and each convict retires to his 
bed ; the officer again examines the doors, sees 
that all are abed, and is then relieved by the over- 
seer, taking the first tour, which continues from 
half past seven to eleven o'clock. He is then re- 
lieved by a watchman, who takes what is called 
the middle tour, from eleven o'clock to half past 
two ; the watchman taking the morning tour, or 
from half past two till light, relieves him. The 
above officers are required, while doing duty, to be 
constantly on their feet, marching around the cells 
and upon the galleries to see that all is quiet and in 
good order. If any sickness or disorder takes place, 



140 Newgate of Connecticut. 

he calls the watchman, who acquaints the warden 
or deputy warden, who immediately repair to the 
hall, and take the necessary measures for relief of 
the sick or the suppression of disorder. 

Duties of the Subordinate Officers. 

Deputy warden takes the principal charge of 
the internal affairs under the direction of the 
warden ; spends the whole day in visiting the 
several shops and departments ; sees that every 
officer performs his duty; attends to the wants 
and complaints of the convicts ; and has a constant 
supervision of all the internal operations. 

The Clerk assists the warden in keeping the 
books and other writing ; attends generally to the 
transportation of convicts from the county jails ; 
and when not thus engaged, performs such other 
duties as are required of him by the warden. 

The Overseers, after performing the duty of 
marching the convicts, as above described, to their 
shops, remain constantly in them, with their men. 
They are not allowed to sit down, but must not 
only remain on their feet, but also exercise the 
utmost vigilance in seeing that their men work 
diligently, in order and silence. In case of sick- 
ness or disobedience, they are required to send 



Newgate of Connecticut, 141 

immediately for the warden or liis deputy ; they 
also report in writing, before nine o'clock, a. m., 
all who express a wish to see the physician. 

The Matron and her assistant have charge of the 
female department of convicts. Those employed 
in the cooking are unlocked by the matron at four 
o'clock A. M., and are employed in cooking and 
washing, under the constant and immediate super- 
vision and direction of the matron, who attends 
personally to the weighing, measuring, and divid- 
ing of the daily rations. After the labors of the 
day, they are assembled for religious service and 
instruction , immediately after 'which they return 
to their cells, and are locked in by the matron. 

The Watchmen are employed, all the time, in 
duty upon the walls, in the guard-room and hall, 
hospital, and in waiting upon spectators who visit 
the prison; they are not allowed to sit, read or 
write, while upon any post of duty. 

The Gate-keeper has the care of the gate lead- 
ing into the yard, and takes charge of the out-door 
hands and work. 

The convicts have at all times free and unre- 
strained access to the warden, and can, whenever 
they wish, see and converse with the directors, or 
director, when they visit the prison, but not in 



142 Newgate of Connecticut, 

presence of other convicts. All punishments are 
inflicted by the warden or his deputy. No subor- 
dinate officer is allowed to leave the prison day or 
night, without permission of the warden, or in his 
absence, the deputy warden. 

Daily Rations. 

One pound salt beef three days in the week. 

Three-quarters of a pound of pork one day in the 
week. 

Three-quarters of a pound offish one day in the 
week. 

One pound of fresh meat with vegetables, made 
into a soup, one day in the week. 

One pound of bread made of rye flour and corn 
meal for breakfast and dinner. Five bushels pota- 
toes to each hundred rations. 

Thirty-five pounds of corn meal and six quarts 
of molasses made into mush for supper, to each 
hundred rations. 

One gill of vinegar and a sufficient quantity of 
salt and pepper per week. 

The rations are varied according to the season 
and other circumstances. 

FINIS. 



INDEX. 



Abby Jane, 134. 

Accidents, 84. 

Adultery, convictions of, 131. 

Agag, 56, 68. 

Albany penitentiary, 134. 

Ancient Windsor, history of, 21, 28. 

AnnJB reginae, 9. 

Aristotle on tyrants, 63. 

Arson, convictions of, 131. 

Assembly, sessions of, 38. 

Athaliah, 55, 68, 69. 

Athenians punished only small 

thieves, 65. 
Bacon, Richard, 23. 
Barber, Lieut., 119, 121. 
Barber's Hist, collections, 77. 
Barnes, brothers, 98, 99. 
Barrel making, 90. 
Barter traffic, 18. 
Bastile, 85. 

Baxter, Rev. Simeon, 47, 49. 
Beds in caverns, 83. 
Beef contractor, 118. 

price of, 18. 
Belcher, Jonathan, 10. 
Bestiality, 131. 
Bethany, robbery at, 77. 
Bew Hist. Connectiout, 75. 



Bible reading introduced, 126. 
Bigamy, convictions of, 131. 
Bills of credit, first, 19. 
Bissell, Josiali, 38. 
Blacksmiths, remarkable men, 15. 
Blockhouse burnt, 40. 

rebuilt, 41. 
Boston, 19, 27, 78. 

company, 10. 

prison discipline society, 124, 
126. 
Bradford's separators, 24. 
Bread and water diet, 89. 
Bridgewater, battle of, 112. 
Brinley, George, 48. 
Brother Jonathan, 76. 
Brown, John, 136. 
Brutus applauded, 67. 
Buck, Dr. Eliphalet, 118, 119. 
Bullets of tea pots, 27. 
Burglary, convictions of, 131. 

how punished, 26. 
Burrows, Stephen, 105. 
Butter, price of, 18. 
Buttons, keys made from, 97. 
Caesar, Julius, 67, 71. 
Caligula, 70. 
Cambridge, 77. 



144 



Index. 



Canada expedition, 19. 
Case, officer, 109. 
Caverns, appearance of, 83. 

favorable to longevity, 83. 

extent of, 12. 

first tory tenants, 26. 

first used as a prison, 26. 

passage to, 82. 
Cells, separate, 123. 
Chaining, custom of, 116, 
Child, colored, dead, 103. 
Churches, taxes for building, 18. 
Cicero, 53, 68, 74. 

applauds Brutus, 67. 
Clark, Commodore, 120. 
Clarke, Capt. Wm., 80. 
Cleanliness neglected, 97. 
Clergymen first smelters, 8. 

convict, 47. 

pay of, 17. 
Clerk, his duties, 140. 
Commissioners to carry on mines, 9. 
Commitments, 129. 
Committee of safety, 30. 
Commodities, lawful tender, 18. 
Congress, right to slay, 68, 22. 

convicts urged to slay, 75. 

paper money of, 19. 

tyrants, 58. 
Connecticut, convicts from, 129. 

copper company, 24. 

state prison, 122. 

only one which pays 
revenue, 124. 

great success of, 124, 

income, 128, 132, 133. 

historical collections, 77. 

historical society, 17. 

history of, 75. 



Connecticut Journal, 29. 

slavery, 20. 
Contagion, only instance, 97. 
Continental currency, depreciation 

of, 20. 
Contractors for prison labor, 124. 
Convicts, ages at time of conviction , 
130. 

exchange food, 87. 
commodities, 89. 
dreaded treadmill, 90. 
escape, 107. 
heavily ironed, 91. 
multifarious, 115. 
nativity of, 129. 
removed from Newgate, 127. 
repeatedly sentenced for same 
oflTences, 116. 
Cooks, 141. 

Copper, destroys juices of body, 106. 
hill, 6, 7, 24, 119. 
mines, act respecting, 9. 
Corn, price of, 18. 
Corson, Samuel, 102. 
Cossett, 119. 
Counterfeiter, 15, 16, 
■ noted, 112. 

autobiography of, 102. 
Counterfeiting, 114, 131. 

how punished, 26. 
County jails (see jails). 
Coventry, 136. 
Crimes, list of, 131. 
Criminals, sold into slavery, 21. 
Cromwell, his example worthy to be 

followed, 74, 
Crown, shared in profits of mines, 10. 
Currituck sound, 113. 
Cutaneous eruptions, 84. 



Index, 



145 



Dagger, use of advised, 48. 

David, 60. 

Davis, Abel, 45, 

Daytou, Ebenezer, robbed, 77, 78. 

Mrs., 79. 

Phebe, 78. 
Delaware, convicts from, 129. 
Deputy warden, his duties, 140. 
Derby, 80. 
Derry, 12G. 

De Wolf, George, 136. 
Discipline, 139. 
Drains, 12. 
Drake, Elihu, 28. 
Dublin, a convict, 107, 108, 121. 
Dungeon, lodging in, 115. 
Duty, daily routine, 137. 
East Grauby, 7. 
East Hartford meadows, 107. 
East Rock, 6. 
East Windsor, 19. 
Eglon slain, 68. 
Ehud, 56, 57, 68, 69. 

slew Eglon, 68. 
Ellison, Lieut., 103. 
Employment, mode of, 123. 
Engines constructed, 23, 24. 
England, convicts from, 129. 

foreign trade confined to, 17. 

ore shipped to, 14. 

prohibited slave trade in 1807, 20. 
English channel, ore sunk in, 14. 

traders introduced slaves, 20. 
Escapes, 94, 95. 

desire for, 133. 

none from new prison, 125. 
Farming done by convicts, 90, 106, 
Farmington river, 36. 
Fascination of Newgate liistory, iii. 
19 



Felony, convictions of, 131. 
Female convicts, 90, 132, 133. 

not confined here, 93. 
Females, their employment, 123. 
Fetters, 91. 

discarded, 125. 
Fever in prison, 96. 
Filthy condition of prison, 96. 
Flogging, 89. 

Foreign trade confined to England, 17. 
Forest on Copper hill, 7, 
Forgery, convictions of, 131, 132. 
Forward, Dan, 95, 96. 
Foster, David, 113. 
Fowls, price of, 18. 
France, convicts from, 129. 

war with, 17. 
Free labor, 23. 
French wars, 32. 
Furnaces built, 23. 

for smelting, 14. 
Gage, Gen., 29. 
Gaolers (see Jailors). 
Gate keeper's duties, 142. 
German miners, 10. 
Germany, convicts from, 129. 
Gillett, 119. 

God save the king, refusal to utter, 28. 
Goddard, 120. 
Goomer, Aaron, 97, 98. 
Granby, 6, 15. 

coppers, 15. 
price of, 16. 
scarcity of, 16. 

subdivided, 7. 
Green Bay, 112. 
Griswold, Christia, 84. 

officer, 110. 
Grotius, 53. 



146 



Index, 



Groton, convict from, 112, 
Guard attacked, 97. 

changed, 89. 

day and night, 81. 

inefficient, 43. 

none by day, 35. 
Guards thrust into dungeon, 42. 
Guinea, an aged convict, 88. 
Gunutown, 79, 80. 
Hancock, John, 46. 
Handcuffs, 91. 
Hanover, 14. 
Harrington, 120. 
Hartford, 8, 17, 45, 48, 61, 122. 

ore taken to, for shipment, 14. 
Harvey, Capt. James, 80. 
Hawley, Mr., 79. 

Healthiness of the mines, 83, 92, 94. 
Heath, Emily, 127. 
Higley, coiner, 15. 
Hilly er, 119. 
Hinson, John, 36, 37. 
History of Newgate, fascination of, iii. 
Holcomb, 119. 

Michael, 108. 
Holland company, 10. 
Holofernes, 56. 
Hooker, Dr., 79. 
Horse stealing, 114, 131, 133. 

imprisonment for, 112. 
Hospital, 93, 94. 
Humphrey, John, 38. 

Maj., 107. 
Hunting grounds, 7. 
Husband, pretended, 100. 
Incest, convictions of, 131. 
Indian hunting grounds, 7. 

meal, price of, 18. 

prisoner escaped, 110, 111. 



Indian wars, 32. 

Indians, defense against, 18, 

not to do military duty, 21. 

sold into slavery, 21, 
Ireland, convicts from, 129, 
Insane poor, 130. 
Insecurity of prison, 118. 
Insurrection, 94, 95, 96, 97, 107, 108. 

investigated, 43. 

of prisoners, 36. 
Itch cured in the caverns, 83. 
Jael, 56, 57. 
Jails, county, 124. 

filthy, 83. 

insecure, 109. 
Jailer's house, 91, 92, 93. 
Janizaries, 68. 
Jared, senior, 119, 
Jehoida slew Athaliah, 68, 69. 
Jesuits resorted to murder, 66, 67. 
Jollification, 121. 
Judd, Chauncey, 80, 
Judith, 56, 57, 
Keeper of Newgate, 35. 
Kendall's travels, 90. 
Keys made of buttons, 97, 98. 
Labor for hire allowed, 88. 
Lamb, price of, 18. 
Levels, 12. 

dug, 23. 
Library, prison, 123. 
Lilly, Serg't, bribed, 44. 
Litchfield, 29. 
Lodging, solitary, 89. 
London company, 10, 

hewed out prison for their 
friends, 26. 

prison of, 5. 
Londonderry, 126. 



Index. 



147 



Longevity promoted in the caverns, 

83. 
Loyalists maltreated by British, 71. 
Lunatics, 130. 
Machiavel on tyrants, 63. 
Management of prison described, 

86. 
Manslaughter, 131. 
Maryland, convicts from, 129. 
Massachusetts, convicts from, 129. 
Mattick, alias Young, 44. 
Matron, her duties, 141. 
Middlebury, 79. 
Midnight revels, 117. 
Milton on tyrants, 69. 
Mines pronounced a secure prison, 
26. 

expense of fortifying, 26, 

convicts to work, 81. 

lease of, 9. 

wrought by slaves, 20. 

per cent yield, 24. 

purchased, 23. 

abandoned, 23, 24. 

proposed for prison, 76. 
Miners engaged, 40. 

first company, 7. 
Mining, 7. 

carried on, 23. 

unsuccessful, 10. 

excitement of, 11. 

why unprofitable, 13. 
Ministers, rebel, 51. 
Money, still uncoined, 17. 
Mortimer, Prince, 100. 

family, 101. 
Moses, 54, 57, 58, 68, 69, 70, 74. 

slew Egyptians, 68. 



Mountains, range of, 6. 

Murder, convictions of, 131. 

Murderer, 106. 

Munsell, Hezekiah, 19. 

Mutton, price of, 18. 

Nail making, 90, 107. 

Nails wrought in prison, 80. 

Name of prison, whence derived, 5. 

National debt, 33. 

Negar servants not to do military 

duty, 21. 
Nero, 70, 71. 
Newbury, 125. 
Newel escaped, 94. 
Newgate, engraving of, 81. 

formidable character of, 25. 
expense to the state, 133. 
of London, 5. 
New Hampshire, convicts from, 129. 

state prison, 126, 127. 
New Haven, 6, 12, 98. 
New Jersey, convicts from, 129. 
New London convicts, 39. 
Newman, prison breaker, 104. 
New Milford, 29. 
New York, convicts from, 129. 
company, 10, 23. 
police, 134. 

ore shipped from, to England, 14. 
Norfolk, 113. 
Nova Scotia, 47, 80. 
Officers, duties of, 140. 

of Bastile, prisoners, 86. 
Ohio, convicts from, 129. 
Ordination, articles fumislied at, 18. 
Ore, cargoes lost, 14. 
character of, 13. 
first dug, 8. 



148 



Index. 



Overseers, their duties, 140. 

Oxford, 80. 

Paper money, first issued, 17. 

above par, 19. 
Parker, convict, 99. 
Parliament closed Boston port, 27. 
Partrige, William, 10. 
Patrick, 121. 
Peas, price of, 18. 
Penitentiary, model, 127. 
Pennsylvania, convicts from, 129. 
Pension papers, forging, 131. 
Perjury, convictions of, 131. 
Peters, Gov., 128. 
Petition of Davis to be released, 45. 
Pettibone, 119. 
Phelps, Capt. Roswell, 97. 

Nathan, 43. 

N. A., iv. 

Orson P., 118. 
Plienix mining company, 23. 
Pickled pork, 93. 
Pilsbury, Amos, 126. 

Moses C, 125, 128. 
Pirate, barbarous, 112. 
Pits, numerous, 12. 
Plato on tyrauLs, 63, 67. 
Plattsburg, 102. 
Plutarch on usurpei-s, 67. 
Poem by Boston lady, 25. 
Poetry in derision of jiatriots, 46. 
Poisoning, 131. 
Polybius on tyrants, 67. 
Poquonock, 84. 
Pork, price of, 18. 
Priest, pretended, 99. 
Prison designed to be a terror, 91. 

house built, 39. 



Prison house burnt, 41, 44. 
Prison labor, 23. 

model, 129. 

property purchased, 23. 
Prisoner returned voluntarily, 101, 

first, 36. 
Prisoners (see convicts) all escaped, 
40, 42, 43. 

nearly sufibcated, 41. 

of war held as slaves, 21, 
Produce legal tender, IS. 
Protestants resorted to murder, 66, 67 . 
Provision pay, 17. 
Public expenses, taxes for, 19. 
Pumps worked day and night, 13. 
Quarrying stone by convicts, 106. 
Railway, convictions of obstructing, 

131. 
Rape, convictions of, 131. 
Rations, dail}', 142. 

divided by matron, 141. 

how served, 87, 93. 
Reaping by convicts, 110. 
Reed, Lieut., 120. 
Refractory ore, 13. 
Reformation not attempted, 117. 
Relics, interesting, 85. 
Religious services, 141. 
Report on prison, 37, 39. 
Rhode Island, convicts from, 129. 
Rivers named from those of England, 

5. 
Roaster, transfonned, 103. 
Robbery, how punished, 26. 
Robbing U. S. mail, 131. 
Roe, oflioer, 109, 110. 

prison guard, 98. 
Rogue, brand of, 106. 



Index. 



149 



Roxbury, 114. 

bill of fare, 20. 
Rum, price of, 18. 
Rye, price of, 18. 
Sackett, Peter, 46. 
Salary of keeper, 35. 
Samson, 52, 53, 57, 58, 59, 69, 74. 

slew Philistines, 68. 
Samuel, 56, 57, 60, 64, 68. 

slew Agag, 68. 
Saul, 60. 

Scenery, grandeur of, 6. 
School, revenue from prison, 124. 
Schoolmaster, 7. 
Scotland bridge, 36. 
Scott, convict, 130. 
Scourging, 116. 

Sentences, average length, 132. 
Sermon in prison, 49, 52. 
Seymour, Thomas, 61. 
Shafts, numerous, 12. 
Shaylor, Ephraim, 110, 111, 112. 
Sheldon, Gad, 42. 

Capt. Thomas, 95. 
Sherman, Roger M., 132. 
Shoemaking, 90. 
Sick, measure for relief of, 140. 
Simsbury, 8, 23. 

committee of safety, 77. 

history of, iv. 

town of, 6. 

copper mines, 6. 

mines discovered, 9. 

act concerning, 9, 17. 

tory shot in, 29. 
Sing Sing, 130. 
Sisera, 56. 
Slavery tolerated, 20. 



Slavery abolished, 21. 
Slave labor in prison, 23. 
Slaves in Windsor, 21, 22. 
Sledgehammers crowned, 16. 
Smelting furnaces, 14. 

prohibited by mother country, 
13. 

done by clergymen, 8. 

prosecuted, 23. 
Smith, James, 112, 113. 

officer, 97. 

Samuel, 102. 
Soldiers drawn up, 91. 
Solitary lodging a punishment, 89. 
Solon on tyrants, 67. 
South Windsor burials, 21. 
Southwell, Jacob, 43. 
Specie, import prevented, 17. 

premium on, 18. 
Spectators, 141. 
Springfield, 8, 19. 
Starkey, Abel N., 114. 
State prison permanently established, 

81. 
Statistics, 129, 130, 131. 
St. Jago, convicts from, 129. 
St. Oliver, 63. 
Stiles, Dr. Henry R., 21, 28. 
Stocks, 99. 

confinement in, 89. 
Stone Jug, 94. 
Stratford, 80. 
Student killed, 85. 
Suffield, 112. 
Sugar, price of, 18. 
Suicide recommended to congre.ss, 

49. 
Tacitus on tyrants, 62. 



150 



Index. 



Tar and feathers, 29, 

Taxes for military defence, 18. 

to meet paper issues, 19. 
Taylor, Benjamin, 113, 114. 
Teapots run into musket balls, 27. 
Tea thrown into sea, 27. 
Teller, convict, 130. 
Temperature of caverns, 84. 
Tennessee, convicts from, 129. 
Tertullian on traitors, 66. 
Texas, convicts from, 129. 
Theft, convictions of, 131. 
Theologians, how regarded, 8. 
Toasts, 121. 
Tolland jail, 136. 
Tom, anecdote of, 22. 
Tories imprisoned, 25, 42. 

first confined, 26. 

patience of, 64. 

sent to Newgate, 30. 

sympathy for, 47. 

tarred and feathered, 29. 

shot, 29. 

vindictive cruelty of, 77. 
Tory clergyman in prison, 47. 
Towns named from those of Eng- 
land, 5. 

subdivided, 7. 
Travelers resort to mines, 85. 
Treadmill, 90. 
Trumbull, Gov., 76. 
Tuller, Capt., 109. 
TuUy on laws, 65. 
Tunxis river, 36. 
Turkey hills, 43. 
Tyrannicide proved lawful, 49. 
Tyrants, lawful to destroy, 58. 
United States criminals, 132. 



Usurpers to be put to death, 65, 
Valerian law against tyrants, 67. 
Vein, rich, 13. 
Venison, price of, 18. 
Vermont, convicts from, 129. 
Vessel sunk by pirates, 112. 
Viets, John, 35, 44. 

Roger, 47. 
Viets's tavern, 88. 
Visitors, numerous, iv. 
Vulcan forged thunderbolts, 15. 
Walk the plank, 114. 
War expenses, 17. 

with England raged, 42. 
Watchman, duties of, 139, 141. 
Water, accumulation of, 13. 

cistern, 122. 
Waterbury, 80. 
Washington, Gen., 48, 49, 101. 

letter from, 77. 

sent convicts, 76. 
Webster, Daniel, 128. 
WeUes, Gen., 134. 

Martin, 118. 
Wells in caverns, 82, 92. 
Wethersfield, 61, 101, 114, 115, 122, 

127, 129, 130. 
Wheat, price of, 18. 
Wheelbarrows, 91. 
Whig and tory animosity, 42. 
Whigs, faith of, 64. 
Whipping introduced, 26. 
Whitewashing daily, 123. 
Whiting, Joseph, petition for loan to 

work mines, ll. 
Windham convicts, 39. 
Windsor slaves, 21, 22. 

slave record, 20. 



Index, 



151 



Wolcott, Erastus, 38. 

Henrj, 20, 
Woodbridge, Dudley, 8. 

John, 8. 

Timothy, jr., 8, 10. 
Woman liberafed convict, 37, 42. 



Workshops erected, 82. 
Xenophon on tyrants, 66. 
Yale college, 7. 
Young, convict, 42. 

John, 44. 
2ophar on tyrants, 75. 




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